A House Republican’s efforts to defend his party’s government shutdown on Thursday quickly unraveled under a basic line of questioning.
CNN host Erin Burnett asked Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia what the GOP plans to do to prevent health care costs from skyrocketing if they refuse to extend expanded subsidies, which otherwise will run out at the end of the year.
“We have the most expensive health care system in the world. It's even close,” McCormick said. “Anybody who's been overseas and been to an emergency room—”
“Address the subsidy, please,” Burnett interrupted. “Can you address the subsidy extension?”
“I'm going to address that,” McCormick snapped back. “But you got to allow me to address this. I'm a physician. I'm a health care expert on the [GOP] Doctors Caucus.”
Things didn’t improve after Burnett followed up, asking what McCormick’s blathering health care commentary meant for the people whose subsidies are set to expire under the GOP-led government. Without offering specifics, he said he wanted a large-scale reworking of the U.S. health care system.
“Can you do it by January?” Burnett asked.
“You're not letting me finish the explanation,” McCormick stammered before launching into the widely debunked GOP talking point that “waste, fraud, and abuse” are the root of all America’s problems.
“I don't think that many people would argue that they think the health care system works as they would like for it to work,” Burnett responded. “But at this point, you have 500,000 people in your state who are looking at maybe losing their insurance because these premiums are going up at the new year. And the remedy that you're talking about is not going to fix that.”
McCormick’s refusal to provide a clear answer underlines the GOP’s lack of a serious plan to protect and expand affordable health care. The Republican motto at this point is: political theater, finger-pointing, deflection … and don’t mention the Epstein files.
Walter Einenkel October 03, 2025 at 12:55AM From Daily Kos
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