'Government entitlements and subsidies invariably cost more than politicians advertise'

Biden signs an Executive Order to continue to strengthen access to the Affordable Care Act on April 5, 2022

(Image credit: Demetrius Freeman / The Washington Post viaGetty Images)

published 29 January 2024

'Behind the ObamaCare boom'

The Wall Street Journal editorial board

President Joe Biden "took a victory lap" last week when his administration announced that "a record 21.3 million Americans had signed up for coverage on the ObamaCare exchanges," says The Wall Street Journal editorial board. But hold your applause. Pandemic-era legislation "sweetened" premium tax credits, and Biden's administration "rewrote ObamaCare rules to enable more families to qualify" for free, or nearly free, insurance on the government marketplace. Those extra enrollments will cost taxpayers a fortune.

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The "political habit of the moment" is to complain that President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump both are "unpopular and old," and Americans want new blood, writes E.J. Dionne Jr. in The Washington Post. It's time to drop the "false equivalences" and acknowledge that voters face a stark choice: "Between constitutional democracy" and Trump's "authoritarianism. Between a normal human being and a self-involved, spiteful madman." Trump and Biden don't "live in the same moral universe."

Presidential debates are "never substantive enough," says Matthew Yglesias at Bloomberg. "The moderators always intervene too much or too little, and they have little effect on voters." Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden are "contemplating skipping this year's edition." But admit it. "We'll miss them when they're gone." Despite their flaws, debates "are a rare opportunity" to "make everyone who pays attention to the news watch and argue about more or less the same thing."

"Americans' faith in the mainstream media is in decline," writes William McKenzie in The Dallas Morning News. In this election year, journalism leaders have two choices. They can "forgo open-minded and independent reporting" — a common complaint these days — and focus on reaching the liberal or conservative audiences their reporters and editors relate to. Or they can "strive to reach broad audiences" with accurate and fair reporting. "The latter path is healthiest for our democracy."

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.