? (Anchor) 00:00.350
joining us right now is house speaker mike johnson and speaker johnson thank you for being with us today people have been waiting to see what you would do and you decided to go with a more conservative part of your party to the consternation of some moderates including mike
? (Anchor) 00:16.870
lawler what happened what what made you decide to go this way and what do you do with the moderates who are unhappy with this decision
Mike Johnson (Speaker of the House) 00:25.190
well it wasn't the speakers decision it was consensus of the body we have two hundred twenty republicans here and lots of different opinions lots of different dynamics in their districts across the country this extending of the covid era enhanced subsidy the premium tax credit
Mike Johnson (Speaker of the House) 00:42.790
has been a big issue around here of debate for for for months now we we knew that we were coming to the end of the year when it would expire and remember the democrats created this covid era subsidy they are the ones that put expiration date on it and now they're turning to
Mike Johnson (Speaker of the House) 00:57.110
republicans as if we should we should save that in some way we couldn't find consensus on it with the body in order to pass it here's the reason everybody needs to understand there's a false narrative out there about these these subsidies it's subsidizing insurance companies and
Mike Johnson (Speaker of the House) 01:12.510
when you do that you're masking the cost the rising cost of healthcare and you're rising making the premiums rise even further but here's here's the false narrative the democrats are are pretending as though this effects everybody in the country it affects seven percent of
Mike Johnson (Speaker of the House) 01:26.830
americans this extended subsidy and of those even if it was extended without any reforms at all it would only reduce that small group of americans premiums by five point seven percent the democrats
? (Anchor) 01:38.990
have tried twenty two to twenty four million americans no i understand that this is not for everybody but it's twenty two to twenty four million americans and there are some republican some republican republicans whose districts are going to face some real trouble and some real
? (Anchor) 01:54.190
issues with this we we've talked to some of them i understand that mike lawler from new york was particularly upset yesterday that he was kind of furious about it said it's idiotic it's political malpractice that's what he told axios on some of this they said they could hear him
? (Anchor) 02:09.990
yelling from outside the room yesterday where all of you were meeting well
Mike Johnson (Speaker of the House) 02:13.710
no no i was in that room with him and mike lawler is one of my close friends in fact i was with him in his district in new york city just two weeks ago campaigning for a couple of days raising him money and helping him get reelected he's an essential member of our conference and
Mike Johnson (Speaker of the House) 02:25.390
a really smart guy and what he was arguing for is this seven percent of americans but here's the point what we're going to do today is the first multiple steps to help not just seven percent of americans but one hundred percent of americans reduce their premiums actually reduce
Mike Johnson (Speaker of the House) 02:41.390
their premiums not subsidized insurance companies to raise the premiums but reduce them and the first of those votes is today this is the lower premiums for all americans act we're going to have on the floor and it's going to actually achieve if it's signed into law exactly what
Mike Johnson (Speaker of the House) 02:55.190
we're saying it has many components among them are the cost sharing reduction programs which will reduce all premiums across the board by at least eleven percent and by the way save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars we have the the the health association health plans that
Mike Johnson (Speaker of the House) 03:10.750
will be a part of this today which will give more flexibility and to small businesses and and others and insureds in the marketplace you've got PBM transparency as a part of this and the choice accounts so there'll be a lot more flexibility in the system consumers will be able
Mike Johnson (Speaker of the House) 03:24.870
to have more choices and their their cost will go down will also increase access to care through these reforms and again this is just the first of many going to do more of this in the first quarter of next year republicans are the ones who will fix healthcare it is the democrats
Mike Johnson (Speaker of the House) 03:40.590
who broke it remember when they passed obamacare the unaffordable care act fifteen unaffordable care act is fifteen years ago now they promised us that that it would enhance care and that premiums would go down for everyone and you'd have more choices none of that was true so we
Mike Johnson (Speaker of the House) 03:55.150
have to fix it
? (Anchor) 03:55.790
i hear your point i hear your point that these subsidies would only help a portion of the people who are dealing with much higher premiums with health care that's certainly fair but to be trying to change the health care system at a point where the subsidies are going to go away
? (Anchor) 04:12.190
and raise insurance for twenty two to twenty four million americans premiums starting in a couple of weeks the the people the moderates on both the republicans and the democrats have said OK we don't want to necessarily go along with with extending those for three years as the
? (Anchor) 04:31.080
plan laid out by hakeem jeffries but why not do a one one to two year extension while you're trying to make some of the changes that you're talking about because these changes are coming so late because they're not things that are going to bring down premiums tomorrow why not
? (Anchor) 04:45.870
extend some of those and try and find some way to blend these two sides to say OK we're going to try and change the health care system and bring down premiums for all it's not going to happen overnight so in the meantime we'll be able to extend these subsidies well