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Legacy of Death: Obamacare Shows the Unintended Consequences of Big Government

Since the passage of Obamacare, thousands of people have died. In February of this year, National Review reported the following:

Public-health data from the Centers for Disease Control confirm what one might expect from a health-care reform that expanded Medicaid coverage for adults: no improvement. In fact, things have gotten worse. Age-adjusted death rates in the U.S. have consistently declined for decades, but in 2015 --- unlike in 19 of the previous 20 years --- they increased. For the first time since 1993, life expectancy fell. Had mortality continued to decline during ACA implementation in 2014 and 2015 at the same rate as during the 2000–13 period, 80,000 fewer Americans would have died in 2015 alone.

One factor may be overdoses related to opioid consumption. Research shows that opioid use is on the rise in areas where formerly uninsured people now have insurance. As overdose deaths spiked, the theory is that healthy people previously uninsured gained access to opioids through the Affordable Care Act, and became addicted.

“It’s worse in places where you’ve increased and given away free insurance, whenever people can get the free drugs and they can start addictions or worsen them or free up money to buy worse things like heroin,” Co-host Stu Burguiere said.

While Obamacare didn't directly kill people, the unintended consequences of big government are, and always have been, severe.

"I'm not going to do what the left does. I just want to point out that when it comes to Medicaid . . . expansion, grandma is not going to lose her Medicaid. Who is going to lose --- and have to go on the government dole in another way --- are the only ones that were expanded. And those were for adults that aren't in a special [category]. They're not the elderly, and they're not the women and children. That's who was supposed to be covered by all of this," Glenn said.

Enjoy the complimentary clip or read the transcript for details.

GLENN: They're saying -- they're making up numbers. These are the actual numbers. Since Obamacare passed, there has been 80,000 more deaths. Since Obamacare passed, there is not a study out there that shows that anyone had any positive effect from expanded Medicare, except for women and children and women and children, that coverage was not expanded.

STU: And you know why -- it's bizarre, but you know why they think those numbers are like that? It's not because you go to the doctor -- like health care-approved. Are you going into this?

GLENN: No. Go ahead.

STU: It's because they believe -- what is happening is people who did not have insurance before who are healthy, okay? And don't really need insurance. You know, or would not have needed it. They would have gotten through the year. They would have been healthy. But they were previously uninsured. Now they are -- a good portion of these people have been able to get access to things like opioids, which are starting addictions, and they are overdosing.

PAT: Wow.

STU: The overdose rate is actually explaining much of the difference in the death rate. And there -- it's showing up in places where Medicaid was expanded at a higher rate than in places where it wasn't. So we know the opioid thing is really bad for everybody. However, it's worse in places where you've increased and given away free insurance, where these people can get the free drugs and they can start addictions or worsen them or free up money to buy worse things like heroin.

PAT: Isn't that fun? That's so fun.

STU: Again, you can never predict these things. There's always unintended consequences. Certainly, Obamacare was not passed with the idea to kill people.

GLENN: No. And, again, it's not Obamacare that has killed people. It is people choosing now what to do with their money or their doctor, that's killing 80,000 more people.

PAT: Although --

GLENN: And that was one year. I mean, I'm not going to do what the left does. I just want to point out that when it comes to Medicaid, there is -- with the expansion, grandma is not going to lose her Medicaid.

PAT: Uh-huh.

GLENN: Who is going to lose and have to go on to the government dole in another way are the only ones that were expanded. And those were for adults that -- that aren't in a special, you know, need. They're not the elderly. And they're not the women and children. That's who was supposed to be covered by all of this. They're the groups that grew -- there was no impact. The only impact and positive help was for women and children. And that part was not expanded.

PAT: It's really beautiful for you to put it that way. But I am going to do what the left does. And I am going to say that Obamacare is single-handedly killing 80,000 Americans a year.

STU: Oh, my God.

PAT: 80,000 Americans a year with its bare hands. Killing them. Murdering innocent Americans, Obamacare.

GLENN: Blood running in the streets.

PAT: Blood spewing -- piles of bodies everywhere.

GLENN: Yeah.

PAT: Women and children running for their lives.

GLENN: Heads on pikes.

(laughter)

STU: Cats and dogs living together.

It's really a bizarre thing to look at though.

PAT: Oh, man.

STU: Because this stuff happens all the time. How many other programs have we talked about, government programs that get implemented and do the opposite? We raise minimum wages --

PAT: So often.

STU: That just happened in Seattle. They raised the minimum wage to not even $15 an hour, and the initial studies are showing that people are actually making less money overall because of it. This is not a stunning thing to a conservative or a Libertarian. But it seems to just like mesmerize the public. All they can take at the time that these things break is what the government tells them. They accept every Obamacare thing: We're going to save $2,500. People would say, this is going to cost a lot of money. And they would say, fact-check, false. It will save $2,500.

That's just the president saying it. You can't just accept that. We would never do that. And it happens over and over and over again.

GLENN: Well, here's the problem: If -- if a car company did this, they would go out of business. Because the government would hold them responsible.

If Humana did this, the government would hold them responsible. If all the people that Humana went out with an advertising campaign and said, "You're going to save $2,500," and it ended up that your rate went up 141 percent. Everyone would have someone to run to, and they would run to the press. And they would run to the government. And the government would shut Humana down for false advertising.

But there's no one to run to. That's why our veterans are in such bad shape. Who are you going to run to? The government?

The press? The press doesn't want to show that socialized medicine -- because that's what that is. They don't want to show that socialized medicine doesn't work and show the hell that that really is. And the government isn't really going to do anything.

Do you know, yesterday, I congratulated the president for actually firing, what was it? 500 people at the VA. First of all, that is .9 percent of the -- those employed. But I'll take that. That's 500 more people than Barack Obama fired. So I'm thrilled.

However, one thing you should be aware of, is the government unions -- they are contesting all of those fires. And, in fact, the first guy he fired already has his job back. You are going to see these people sue the government, sue to make sure, with their union, to make sure that they were treated fairly, et cetera. They're going to be coming back into the system. And those who don't, I guarantee you, you will still be paying for, in a rubber room, just like the unions have in -- with teachers in Manhattan. Nothing -- nothing is being fixed here.

And that's the real tragedy. Because we all know that it can be fixed. We all know that. We all know that it should be fixed and can be fixed. It's just that people aren't serious. And the system is so big, that you don't even know how to get your arms around it. You don't even know what to do.

That's why the Founders wanted to keep things so small and so local. Because the local people, it would never get to be so big that the local people couldn't fix it. And if the local people couldn't fix it, the state would be able to fix it.

You've gone to the highest authority. And now they control everything. Where do you go when they can't fix it?

PAT: Nowhere to go. Nowhere to go.

GLENN: Nowhere. The UN?

PAT: Speaking of things that are so big you can't get your arms around them, did you hear Chris Christie on the radio yesterday?

GLENN: No.

(laughter)

EXCLUSIVE: Chip Roy Explains His FIERY Rejection of Spending Bill
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EXCLUSIVE: Chip Roy Explains His FIERY Rejection of Spending Bill

According to the media, there’s a big fight going on between Republicans over the House’s new slimmed-down continuing resolution spending bill. Some, including President-elect Donald Trump, wanted the bill to pass. But others, like Texas Representative Chip Roy, argued that it still wasn’t ready. However, is the Republican “unity coalition” really crumbling, like the media claims? Rep. Chip Roy joins Glenn to explain what’s really going on. He argues that he IS trying to give Trump and DOGE a 100-day “runway” to fix the country. But he makes the case that, by increasing the debt ceiling by $5 trillion without agreeing on other cuts, this bill gives bad actors the ability to be an “obstacle” to Trump’s agenda further down the line. Plus, he reveals to Glenn that he believes some of these bad actors LEAKED false information about his stance to Mar-a-Lago.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN:

I think we have a great opportunity today. To show you how to have a -- tough conversation, with friends, friends. Where you deeply disagree on something.

But you know that their intent is good. They know my intent is good. Or our intent is good.

And we actually have the same end goal, but we disagree on the path. And we're going to walk away friends.

Chip Roy is joining us today. And, Chip, I love you. And I always will. And I agree with your, we've got to cut spending. We have to. But Liz Wheeler is with me. And we've been talking about it all morning. It's the -- the -- the -- the system of DOGE and Trump, the call-out to the world, in saying, you've got to surrender the Capitol. You know, the bad guys are in and about to take all the money.

Surround, and tell them, come out with your hands up. And that happened. And we scored a massive win, in an entirely new way.

Ask then you stood on principle, one we both agree with.

And it failed!

And so here's -- here's what Liz and I were talking about. Here's what we want to say to you.

And then get your response.

LIZ: Hi, Congressman Roy, this is the way I see it. I want your take on it. I love you. I think you're one of the best members of Congress. I disagree with you on the process that's happening. And I think that is the difference. The process. We elected Donald Trump to be a disruptor. Because Republican members of Congress for decades have been telling they're fiscal conservatives. They want to decrease the debt SEAL. It hasn't happened.

It hasn't -- it hasn't been done. And so Donald Trump comes in with Elon Musk, and uses this DOGE process to first identify these pieces of garbage in the first 1500-page bill. And take those things to the people. We took them to members of Congress. Congress said, okay. We'll listen to you.

So that new process was very effective.

And my question to you is: Once that process was proved to be effective. Which I think is exciting and wonderful.

How do we bridge this divide, with you, to say, okay.

Let's put some faith in this new process. And trust Elon Musk and Donald Trump and the Dow Jones process, to eventually address the debt ceiling, but get this done right now?

GLENN: And not blind trust. Chip.

CHIP: So appreciate you guys. Appreciate being on the show. Particular order. I have to go through a couple of things.

GLENN: Yep.

CHIP: Number one, it's important to remember that my job and my duty is to the Constitution, to God, and the people I represent. I told them, when I came to Washington, I would not -- I would not let the credit card and the debt ceiling and the borrowing of the United States without the spending restraints necessary to offset it.

GLENN: Okay.

CHIP: Right now, all we have are promises and ideas and notions. What I know, that neither of you respectfully no, and that none of your listeners respectfully no are the people that are in the room, that I was in with yesterday. And the day before, who are recalcitrant.

And do not want to do the spending cuts that we need to do.

That I believe the president and the DOGE guys. And everybody want to do.

My job, is to force that through the meat grinder. To demand that we do our damn job. Okay?

GLENN: Okay. So hang on. Okay. So wait. Wait. You're right. You're right. You're right. Go ahead.

CHIP: Number thee, when we were going through the bill, I'm glad the bill dropped from 1,550 pages to 116 pages. Three-quarters of Twitter or X or whatever you want to call it, have been out there spreading false facts that we supported a bad bill and didn't like the better bill.

That's not true. But let's be Lear. The 1400 pages that were cut out. It's a panacea.

There were some good stuff in there. There were some bad stuff in there. There was a lot of disinformation.

There wasn't a $70,000 pay raise. There was a 3,000-dollar pay raise.

I didn't support any pay raise. I didn't support a lot of the stuff in there.

But there's a lot of misinformation. And here's the thing: The 116 pages that were left, and I opposed violently the first bill. I was leading the charge on fighting and killing the first bill.

GLENN: And I love you.

LIZ: The second bill for 116 pages. Turned off -- turned off the pay go requirement. That we slash 1.7 trillion automatically.

And added a 5 trillion that are increase.

My view was, I could not support that, without a clear understanding of what cuts we would get, in mandatory spending next year. And undo any of the Inflation Reduction Act.

The undoing of the student loans. The undoing of the crap with the food stamps.

And everything else. I yield back.

GLENN: Okay. I yield back.

Chip, you're not in a hostile room. We love you. And we agree with your end goals. It's our end goal too. We didn't make that promise that you made to the people that voted for you. So we have more wiggle room here.

But you say -- I think our big difference is, you say, I know the guys in the room.

You're right. You do. And we -- we ceded that earlier today on the show.

You are -- one of us is wrong on trust.

I don't trust any of the weasels in Washington.

But I think Donald Trump and Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have earned enough trust, to get a grace period, here for the first -- maybe the first year.

Or at least six months.

To turn the economy around, and also reduce the size of the government.

And totally flip this thing.

And I know, as somebody who is -- you know, run a company, mainly into a ground. But run a company, and have to switch it, in the middle, and totally reshuffle. That -- that actually costs money, while you're doing it, to bridge the gap.

Because you have to fill up holes while you're filling in the gap.

You don't trust the people in the room. Neither do we.

But we do trust the system that worked on Wednesday with DOGE and Donald Trump.

Where do we disagree?

Can you give them --

CHIP: We don't disagree. And yesterday morning, I was making that precise argument in a room full of conservatives and then a follow-up room with people who will call it, less conservatives.

GLENN: Republican. Yes.

CHIP: And so we were making this argument. And then someone infamously. Something leaked out of the room, somehow out to Mar-a-Lago. That I was being resistant. Because I was negotiating trying to get the agreement to achieve the objective that you just said. I was trying to get, okay. In fact, yesterday morning, I made the argument to a group of conservatives. We need to give the president runway. We need to give him his first 100 days. We need to appreciate JD, and Vivek, and all the people -- and everybody involved. For the president to achieve the objective.

But to get there. We have to make sure that the guys in the room, that are an obstacle to that, don't have the ability to block it.

Because information flow matters. And when those guys tell the president, they can't achieve X.

Then the president will not achieve X. Our job was to force and demand, guys, we need actual understanding of what the cuts will be.

And because otherwise, we're asking us to accept a 5 trillion-dollar limit in our credit card increase. In exchange for nothing!

Literally, in exchange for nothing, but -- but hope.

So our job was to force that change.

Unfortunately, while I was trying to make the argument that we needed something in order to get the votes, someone leaked that down to Mar-a-Lago, and the president reacted.

But now I have to now manage that.

GLENN: Right. I know. I know.

CHIP: They're trying to enforce change in town.

GLENN: So hang on.

We have to leave this. Because I'm going to run against the clock.

I could talk to you all day about this. You were in a meeting this morning about J.D. Vance. Can you tell us anything about that meeting?

CHIP: That meeting happened, because despite what happened yesterday, I'm trying to get this done. Last night, talking to JD, we worked to get this meeting done. We had some good progress this morning.

But there still remains people concerned about spending. That we can work out, what agreement we can reach. On what spending cuts. We can actually get next year, in exchange for giving the vote on a debt ceiling increase.

So it remains fluid. Progress was made. But we have to keep working on it.

And I left that meeting to talk to you. Soil get an update in a minute.

GLENN: Thank you for that, by the way.

I hear there is a new bill that may be coming today.

Is that the one you're talking about?

Or is this another bill that could be another nightmare?

CHIP: Despite other people leaking crap, I refused. I can't say, because it's not been decided by the speaker.

And it's not right to talk about things they're talking about in private meetings.

GLENN: Yeah, but it's -- it's this speaker. I mean, is he really the speaker anymore, Chip, really?

CHIP: We need to hear what bill we need to get forward. And I can't talk about the private meetings. But, look, I'm going to keep fighting for what I promised people that I represent.

I'm going to fight to cut spending. I am going to represent article one.

I'm going to support the president's agenda, but we've got to do that together.

GLENN: Okay.

Chip, thank you.

I think we can -- I think we agree, but I await to see what that means to you. Because we may just have to agree to disagree on this.

But I love you. And I still want you to replace Cornyn.

CHIP: The short version is, for inflation's sake, we cannot increase the debt ceiling $5 trillion without knowing what we're getting for it.

And I don't think anybody should disagree with that.

GLENN: But you don't disagree that Elon Musk and Trump and Vivek are serious about gutting the system.

CHIP: I believe that is their objective. I believe there are obstacles to that objective. And I need to know the sincerity of how we deal with those obstacles, both structural, and human. And we have to figure that out. And that's my job.