General Discussion

Is is not true that the ACA survived for 6 years (under the 2014 regulations that had been in place) before the temporary COVID subsidies currently in question ever came along? There were just a lot less people on it? That's how I remember things. The baseline subsidies are not going away.

But if you believe those enhanced subsidies were the whole reason we still had an ACA, AND the reason for the enhanced subsidies was "because Democrats created and extended them while in power", it still does not make sense to savage Democrats over them going away because they don't control any of three branches. "Democrats kept the ACA for us for as long as they possibly could" is a perfectly valid reading of the situation as well, no?

Simple fact is, we had no path to victory, no path to keeping these subsidies. If you accept this fundamental fact (and it IS a fact) the whole capitulation thing becomes easier to swallow. At least, it has for me. But then, all along I've thought the shutdown was imprudent (though I've not voiced it) because I knew we could not win, that these particular subsidies ARE going away, and all our Democrats were EVER doing was grandstanding. I'm kinda shocked everyone didn't realize this all along