On Friday, the Senate voted 47-45 to reject a Democratic bill to fund the government past the end of the month and avoid a government shutdown on October 1. The rejected bill included health care policy provisions that Republicans are aligned against, including an extension of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, a.k.a. “Obamacare”) health insurance subsidies and restoration of nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid funding cuts that are called for in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act that President Trump signed into law in July.
On Tuesday, Trump backed out of a meeting (planned for today) to discuss a deal with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
[NOTE: Jeffries said of the President’s decision: “Trump agreed to a meeting to prevent a government shutdown—then woke up, went on an unhinged rant, and canceled it because he didn’t want to talk about the GOP’s healthcare crisis.”]
Democratic Senators are warning their constituents of a potential 70 percent increase in health care premiums. Among those sounding the alarm are Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), who asked his constituents on social media today: “Can you afford a 70% increase in your health care premiums? Republicans voted to spike your health care costs last week. Democrats are fighting to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
MAGA-aligned Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) replied to Warner: “Obamacare made healthcare unaffordable Let’s repeal it Who’s in?”
Obamacare made healthcare unaffordable
Let’s repeal it
Who’s in? https://t.co/IuqPW2IsSP
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) September 25, 2025
More than one X user slammed Lee for his suggestion, which they noted does not include a solution or replacement for “Obamacare” — something Trump himself has said numerous times he wants to see.
[NOTE: In his sole debate with Kamala Harris, Trump said that “Obamacare was lousy health care. Always was. It’s not very good today…And what I said, that if we come up with something, and we are working on things, we’re going to do it and we’re going to replace it.”]
As one frustrated commenter replied to Lee: “Remember that if you just repeal it, without a replacement, we will lose protections for pre-existing conditions, so millions of Americans will lose access to healthcare. You had a chance to repeal ACA at the start of Trump 1.0 but it turned out that he had nothing prepared for replacement and you lost the chance. This time, do your homework before hand. Trump promised a much better and much more affordable plan for all Americans, you need to do something now to deliver it.”
Another commenter replied: “Folks need affordable healthcare, that’s a given. But repealing Obamacare without a solid replacement is like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. We need a plan that brings down costs and covers folks, not just empty promises.”
And another wrote: “I don’t like the ACA act, but it does prevent me from going into a wheelchair and eventually dying. Repealing the ACA doesn’t fix healthcare. It does screw a bunch of people out of healthcare though. Gotta offer solutions, not just repeal.”
The commenters, among them both Trump voters and Democrats, are more aligned with the President than with Lee, whose “move fast and break things” approach causes concern on both sides of the political divide.
When during the Harris debate Trump said that instead of repealing Obamacare he was going to replace it, he was asked if his administration had a plan to do so. Pushed for details, Trump famously said he had “concepts of a plan.”