Audrey Morse Gasteier

Audrey Morse Gasteier

@amgasteier.bsky.social

Mama & Massachusettsian who loves the ACA, state-based insurance marketplaces, good public policy, cooking, loud music, and dogs. Views are my own.

1,437 Followers 389 Following 15 Posts Joined Nov 2024
1 month ago
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The Purged Donald Trump’s destruction of the civil service is a tragedy not just for the roughly 300,000 workers who have been discarded, but for an entire nation.

For some reason, very few people these days will stand up and say it, but: the US federal bureaucracy is one of the great wonders of the world, staffed with incredibly diligent people who do their jobs well and care deeply.

Trump's destruction of the federal apparaus was a historic crime.

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2 months ago
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While Trump toys around with "concepts of a plan" and Senate Republicans sit on their hands, cuts to healthcare in Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" are about to send insurance premiums SOARING.

Audrey from Massachusetts' Health Connector witnesses the damage first-hand:

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3 months ago
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NEW: Congress missed its chance to stop the Obamacare premium shock. But it can still undo some of the damage.

@citizencohn.bsky.social explains how a retroactive fix could work, who’s standing in the way, and why every delay means more people lose coverage. lnk.thebulwark.com/4segki6?utm_...

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3 months ago
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Sticker Shock: Obamacare Customers Confront Premium Spikes as Congress Dithers - KFF Health News With subsidies that give consumers extra help paying their health insurance premiums set to expire, lawmakers are again debating the Affordable Care Act. The difference this time: It’s happening in th...

“Before I sign up, I will wait and see what happens.” How one Chicago woman is dealing with a topsy-turvy Obamacare enrollment season.
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

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3 months ago
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"In the United States of America, access to affordable health care should not prevent anyone from starting a business, changing careers or being able to live the life of their choosing."

The ACA tax credits disproportionately benefit our small businesses. Congress must act.

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3 months ago
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Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick: "I've heard so many people in the Republican conference rail on the ACA, rail on Obamacare, rail on the premium tax credits…They have never offered a better alternative…They still have not been able to put together an articulable plan."

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3 months ago
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Proposals from Senators Scott and Cassidy to convert ACA premium tax credits into health accounts present trade-offs that benefit healthy people at the expense of sick people. Senator Scott's proposal, in particular, would destabilize the insurance market in some states.
www.kff.org/affordable-c...

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4 months ago
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The Affordable Care Act created a marketplace where consumers could use subsidies to help purchase private-sector plans. Trump’s concept of a plan involves no such marketplace, plunging consumers into a state of nature

"It’s so good ... They’re gonna feel like entrepreneurs" trib.al/7cyWvzQ

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4 months ago
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Thank you, Gov. Healey, for the chance to lift up the thousands of MA residents facing cost increases as a result of the loss of ePTC b/c of Congressional inaction. We hear daily from worried members – working parents, small biz owners, & people with complex medical needs - unsure of what to do.

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4 months ago
Sen. Lindsey Graham — quoted here by Jake Sherman — objecting to ACA subsidy extension bc “it would enrich health insurance companies even more”

Republicans waged a relentless, decades-long campaign to privatize Medicare and Medicaid

They fought even mild efforts to expand public insurance

Now they are objecting to extending extra ACA subsidies, supposedly because money flows to private insurers

We are supposed to take this seriously?

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4 months ago
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This is, unsurprisingly, nonsensical. Is he suggesting eliminating health insurance and giving people a few thousand dollars instead? And then when they get a cancer diagnosis they just go bankrupt?

He is so unserious. That's why we are shut down and Americans know it.

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4 months ago

With the mini-burst of proposals to replace enhanced PTCs with spending accounts like FSAs, keep in mind that this would *absolutely wallop* older people with middle incomes—say a 63-year-old earning $65K—who are among the most dependent on enhanced PTCs. 🧵1/

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4 months ago
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The Republican Health Care Trap, Episode 78 As the shutdown drags on, the GOP croons its old tune: replacing Obamacare.

@citizencohn.bsky.social: "The string of empty promises of a supposedly fantastic, about-to-be-revealed GOP health plan has long been a running joke in Washington...that stretches back more than a decade."

Read the latest Breakdown @thebulwark.com: www.thebulwark.com/p/the-republ...

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4 months ago

I hear from informed sources that these #NoKings rallies are more than twice as big as last time, making them easily the largest protests in US history. Thanks to everyone and especially organizers.

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4 months ago
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Concord, Massachusetts - birthplace of the original American #NOKINGS movement - showing up & showing out at the historic Old North Bridge today.

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4 months ago
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Higher Obamacare Prices Become Public in a Dozen States

"Based on the newly posted information, a family of four making $130,000 in Maine would face an increase of $16,100 in annual premiums next year...."
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/h...

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5 months ago
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Honored to join Senator Markey yesterday in Dorchester to raise the alarm on the threats to the Massachusetts health care system coming out of new federal policies & the risk of the looming expiration of enhanced ACA Tax Credits. Massachusetts residents’ health and security are on the line.

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5 months ago
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Illegal Immigrants Are Already Getting Health Care Under Donald Trump The program financing ER care for illegal immigrants has been around for four decades, and not even Trump wants to take it away.

Seems like a good time to revisit why we require hospitals to provide emergency care, no questions asked -- and why we help them with the costs.

And how the president who signed those provisions into law wasn't Joe Biden.

It was Ronald Reagan. www.thebulwark.com/p/government...

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5 months ago
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White House Senses Political Risk on Healthcare Despite Shutdown Bravado Aides to President Trump are discussing proposals to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies on which millions of Americans rely.

Hmm.

Free link ⤵️

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

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5 months ago
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The Republican Shutdown Argument is a Giant Lie No, Democrats aren’t trying to fund health care for “illegal aliens.”

"Not a single Democrat has talked about wanting to fund care for people in the United States unlawfully. Instead, what Democrats have said is they want to undo Medicaid cuts projected to leave nearly 10 million Americans uninsured." Eh, close enough!

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5 months ago
These people have found their health care at the center of a shutdown showdown Small business owners, self-employed people and early retirees are among the 24 million Americans who could lose the tax credit

Republicans would rather shut down the government than help millions of Americans afford health care. This article tells some of their stories, and is a good reminder of what’s at stake.

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5 months ago

Why are people screaming at a private citizen to do something about Gaza? She’s not in the White House anymore. Meanwhile, the President was in New York, as well. What power do you think she has now?

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7 months ago
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A Massive Health Care Shock Is Coming And there is little time—and maybe not enough will from Republicans—to avert it.

Republicans could allow the expiration of a Biden-era program that reduced premiums and got record numbers of Americans insured, but that might be risky after running so hard on consumer prices and the cost of living.

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8 months ago

Difficult to capture just how much self-destructive policy — undermining long-term energy independence, killing new factory jobs, reversing historic gains in health coverage — Republicans have packed into this one bill

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8 months ago
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Statement just issued from our bipartisan coalition of State-based Marketplaces, urging the Senate to reject proposals in the reconciliation bill that will result in coverage losses and increased costs for the tens of millions of Americans that depend on ACA Marketplaces for their health care.

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8 months ago
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Opinion | The One Big Beautiful Bill would tangle Obamacare in red tape Under the legislation now before Congress, millions of people would lose their health insurance.

@anil-blue.bsky.social here you go: wapo.st/40oKti9

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8 months ago
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Opinion | The One Big Beautiful Bill would tangle Obamacare in red tape Under the legislation now before Congress, millions of people would lose their health insurance.

Thank you to the Washington Post editorial board for shining a bright light on the very real threats to ACA Marketplaces hiding in plain sight in the reconciliation bill. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

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8 months ago
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Do You Have Obamacare or Medicaid Coverage? Tell Us About It.

As Republicans weigh steep cuts, Times reporters want to hear from people who rely on the Affordable Care Act or Medicaid for health insurance.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/05/u...

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8 months ago
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Do Republicans Realize Whose Health Care They’re Cutting? Their big beautiful bill is polling terribly, yet somehow Senate leaders may have just made it worse.

GOP leadership strategy so far has leaned heavily on speed and obfuscation

Does make me wonder how much lawmakers understand what they’re voting on—or what it’d do to some of their own constituents

My latest for @thebulwark.com www.thebulwark.com/p/do-republi...

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8 months ago
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Do Republicans Realize Whose Health Care They’re Cutting? Their big beautiful bill is polling terribly, yet somehow Senate leaders may have just made it worse.

@citizencohn.bsky.social: "For now, almost all elected Republicans seem content to keep going with their big beautiful bill. But they should be spooked—and maybe they will be, once they realize what’s truly in there." www.thebulwark.com/p/do-republi...

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