MAGA-aligned Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a member of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, is blaming House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) for the federal government shutdown and their decision not to negotiate with Democrats over the extension of tax subsidies for the Affordable Care Act.
Asserting that she doesn’t have to be a “cheerleader” for her party, Greene said her constituents in Georgia, including her “neighbors, family and friends,” have been asking her to “do something about healthcare premiums.”
On Sunday, Greene asked her followers on social media: “If there was very detailed pricing transparency in the healthcare industry from doctors, surgeries, treatments, pharmacists, literally everything directly to patients, without health insurance, would that appeal to you?”
If there was very detailed pricing transparency in the healthcare industry from doctors, surgeries, treatments, pharmacists, literally everything directly to patients, without health insurance, would that appeal to you?
Like concierge and/or a la carte medical care that frees…
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
(@RepMTG) October 12, 2025
Greene added: “Like concierge and/or a la carte medical care that frees doctors and common prescriptions out of the burdens of the current system lowering cost.
“I know obviously not for everyone, but could appeal to many. In other words, for those who are paying $1,800+/mo with $7-10,000 deductibles, if that money could pay directly for care without going to insurance companies and instead directly to your own health care needs, how many people would that appeal to?”
Billionaire Mark Cuban, who owns Cost Plus Drugs, replied to Greene today: “The only financial questions in healthcare are 1. What does it cost 2. How do you pay for it.”
He added: “For most people in this country, employers, taxpayers and patients absorb the risk of payment. Insurance companies rarely take risk. It’s time to ask why we use them at all ?
“If you need money for college, a house, a small business loan, and more, taxpayers will give or guarantee a loan. If you are in a horrific accident and can’t pay your deductible or OOP, we ignore you. There are ways to solve this problem. But they start with realizing in 2025, insurance isn’t the solution. It’s the problem. They know you can’t pay your deductibles, but they take your premiums. Let that sink in.”
Asked by another poster for thoughts on how the ACA has affected costs, Cuban praised the original ACA for its mission and leaner intent, but said its effective impact had changed and “now the insurance companies are vertically integrated and far different. What we see today isn’t because of the ACA. It’s because we let the companies grow into behemoths that have more power over our lives than any other companies. They define the healthcare system.”