Predictably, Democrats have made Affordable Care Act subsidies a red line in the GOP’s government shutdown battle. But they seem to have at least one unexpected ally: MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
In a lengthy post on X, Greene lays out her case for keeping ACA subsidies while, uh, railing against the ACA itself.
She starts:
I was not in Congress when all this Obamacare, “Affordable Care Act” bullshit started. I got here in 2021. As a matter of fact, the ACA made health insurance UNAFFORDABLE for my family after it was passed, with skyrocketing premiums higher than our house payment.
Let’s just say as nicely as possible, I’m not a fan.
The only way the ACA could have made her family’s health care more expensive would be if they were on one of those junk insurance plans that the ACA outlawed—plans that bamboozled people into thinking they had coverage until they actually needed it.
She continues:
But I’m going to go against everyone on this issue because when the tax credits expire this year my own adult children’s insurance premiums for 2026 are going to DOUBLE, along with all the wonderful families and hard-working people in my district.
Conservatives are always the first to abandon their “principles” when reality hits home. Greene’s own family depends on government subsidies, so she’s suddenly a defender of the ACA’s tax credits.
GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia
To be fair, she’s not wrong about who benefits: plenty of lower-income Americans who voted for President Donald Trump rely on those same subsidies. Trump may have won poor Americans, but his party—as always—governs for the wealthy.
Greene might be the only Republican paying attention to her base, if only because her own kids are impacted.
She then says:
No I’m not towing the party line on this, or playing loyalty games. I’m a Republican and won’t vote for illegals to have any tax payer funded healthcare or benefits.
I’m AMERICA ONLY!!!
I’m carving my own lane.
Even while “carving her own lane,” Greene can’t help but remind everyone that she’s still a good, hateful Republican—because what’s a post without a little immigrant-bashing? I’m surprised she didn’t throw in a dig at trans kids while she was at it.
Next, she writes:
And I’m absolutely disgusted that health insurance premiums will DOUBLE if the tax credits expire this year.
Also, I think health insurance and all insurance is a scam, just be clear!
She’s free to skip insurance entirely, of course. Maybe next time she or her kids get sick, she can test that “scam” theory herself. Or maybe she prefers those religious health cost-sharing ministries—the ones that are actually scams, but for Jesus.
She continues:
Not a single Republican in leadership talked to us about this or has given us a plan to help Americans deal with their health insurance premiums DOUBLING!!!
Hey now, Trump has a “concept of a plan.”
Greene then dedicates an entire paragraph to railing against U.S. aid to Israel and Ukraine, before adding:
All our country does is fund foreign countries and foreign wars, and never does anything to help the American people!!!
It is absolutely shameful, disgusting, and traitorous, that our laws and policies screw the American people so much that the government is shut down right now fighting over basic issues like this.
That one’s actually true, though the problem is Republicans who are literally fighting to screw people over.
Finally, she concludes:
Again, NO FUNDING FOR ILLEGALS AND ANY BENEFITS FOR THEM, BUT WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE ABSOLUTELY INSANE COST OF INSURANCE FOR AMERICANS.
You don’t HATE your government enough.
Oh, I hate this government plenty. But if Greene wants to join the universal health care bandwagon, then maybe I’ll hate it a little less.
Ultimately, Greene’s sudden concern for health care costs won’t spark a Republican revolution on the ACA, but it does reveal the party’s central contradiction: They loathe government right up until they need it.
And for all her bluster, even Greene can’t escape that truth.
