On Day 39 of the federal government shutdown — before eight Senators flipped this week — as Senate Democrats continued en bloc to demand an extension of tax subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare), U.S. Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS), who is also a physician, argued: “Up to 40% of Obamacare enrollees never file a claim. That’s billions in taxpayer dollars flowing to insurance companies for people who don’t even use the system. Republicans are committed to ending the fraud and making healthcare truly affordable.”
Many Democrats ridiculed Marshall for his remarks. As political pundit Ryan Davis (who worked on the 2004 Howard Dean presidential campaign) replied, “Google insurance.” The Times op-ed editor Evan Barker replied, “That’s how insurance works. Some people use it and others don’t. How is this guy a Senator?”
My wife and I pay for life insurance even though we have never died. I pay for fire insurance even though my house has never burned down. That’s not because we want to throw money at insurance companies. It’s because THAT’S HOW INSURANCE WORKS. https://t.co/ayVA63EZ8k
— Sean Casten (@SeanCasten) November 10, 2025
Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) replied to Marshall: “My wife and I pay for life insurance even though we have never died. I pay for fire insurance even though my house has never burned down. That’s not because we want to throw money at insurance companies. It’s because THAT’S HOW INSURANCE WORKS.”
MAGA supporters pointed out that Casten’s decision to pay for life insurance and fire insurance is a choice and that Americans’ “don’t have a choice to subsidize ACA.” (Note: As of January 2019, there is no longer a federal penalty for being uninsured. However, some state mandates still require residents to have coverage and could face a state penalty for not having it.)
Others criticized Marshall and the entire GOP for not delivering an alternative to Obamacare as they have promised since Trump first ran in 2016. The President, addressing progress on the issue in a 2024 debate, said — in a moment that went viral — that the GOP had “concepts of a plan.”