On January 9th Representative Brad Finstad, voted against extending subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA)–meaning that he was ok with raising insurance premiums for many of us in southern Minnesota.  Meanwhile, we all help subsidize 72% of the Congressman’s Gold-level ACA plan through our taxes.  In addition, our tax money ensures that Finstad can access free or low-cost care from the Office of the Attending Physician as well as from military facilities in the D.C. area.  

The vote on the expansion bill was 230-196–with all the no votes coming from Republicans, many of whom have had it in for the ACA since its creation.  Why are they so against it?  One answer is that they are required to be on it– and many of them miss the more generous plan they used to have. As Jeffrey Frank of The New Yorker reports, Federal legislators used to be covered by a “beloved, and by most accounts well-administered, federal plan” called the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). Legislators who tried to repeal the ACA knew they would get to return to that “comfortable” situation. 

That was before Brad’s time, of course, but Finstad has been working hard to make healthcare more expensive and less accessible for his constituents.  He voted for the “Big Beautiful Bill” which cut $100 billion from rural healthcare–and immediately afterward the Mayo Clinic closed four rural clinics in Finstad’s district. He has also supported letting insurance companies offer much less generous plans that don’t meet the ACA’s benefits requirements and that would deny care for those with pre-existing conditions and chronic health conditions.