Ostensibly, one of the reasons Democrats are claiming we need a government shutdown right now is over Obamacare. Senate Democrats are digging in, claiming that unless we act now, Americans will get hammered with higher premiums. In truth, Democrats are right on that point, which is disturbingly the undiscussed point: Obamacare is still the law of the land.

We're here because Obamacare is imploding. It's a predictable disaster that, bizarrely, got saved by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, Democrats passed enhanced Obamacare subsidies to help cover the increased healthcare costs resulting from the pandemic. On that level, the subsidies make sense. However, the original subsidies were only intended to last a few years, after which everyone was expected to return to normal.

But like all things with the Biden administration, the exceptions and subsidies for everything became the norm. The Inflation Reduction Act pushed the temporary subsidies out to 2025, which is where we are now. Democrats are screaming about higher rates and want to make an emergency policy for COVID-19 the norm.

It's a catch-22 for Republicans. Democrats are demanding that Republicans intervene to prevent premium increases. And premiums will undoubtedly go up. Doing that is effectively saving Obamacare, though.

Democrats are demanding that an emergency funding provision for Obamacare become the permanent law of the land. The Washington Post Editorial Board looked at this as incredulously as Republicans, noting, "Democrats have demanded that Republicans agree to extend covid-era insurance subsidies without proposed any way to pay for it."

The Post continued, "The real problem is that the Affordable Care Act was never actually affordable. President Barack Obama's signature achievement allowed people to buy insurance on marketplaces with subsidies based on their income. The architects of the program assumed that risk pools would be bigger than they turned out to be. As a result, policies cost more than expected."

Moreover, these estimates are likely to be underestimating long-term costs as well. Democratic-run states, California in particular, are seeking to launder federal money into their illegal immigrant healthcare funds.

Writing in City Journal, Chris Pope notes:

Blue states, however, have developed workarounds to restrictions on federal funding for immigrant health care. Fourteen states supposedly use their own resources to fund comprehensive benefits for low-income children of illegal workers, while seven do so for adults. Beginning in 2024, California promised to cover all immigrants regardless of age or legal status. This effort relied heavily on indirect federal funding, laundered through the healthcare industry: the state imposed a $5 billion tax on insurers covering Medicaid enrollees, for which it claimed additional federal matching funds.

In short, Democrats are demanding not only that Republicans save Obamacare from itself, but also make everything permanent so Democratic-run states can continue pushing taxpayer services to illegal immigrants.

That's where we are. Democrats can't get a cohesive messaging plan on the shutdown. But at its core, this is the healthcare question: Democrats demanding Republicans save Obamacare.

The Affordable Care Act isn't affordable. And unless we're seriously subsidizing it, things will go downhill quickly. No Republican votes for this monstrosity, and Republicans continue to oppose it. Yet, Schumer demands Republicans capitulate because a Democratic-created program has failed in ways that will harm Americans.

I agree with the Wall Street Journal's Editorial Board, which has demanded that Republicans offer clear alternatives to this boondoggle of a program. "Republicans could spend their time this week explaining why the Biden expansion is bad policy and offering better ideas, instead of letting themselves be hostage to Democratic extortion."

The healthcare debate is a reminder that neither Democrats nor Barack Obama has solved the healthcare problem. They made it worse. Bernie Sanders and the far left see Obamacare as an expansion point, to make these problems even larger, and have the government take over everything.

Each decade, Democrats claim the need to pursue some big healthcare strategy. They make things worse, people get worse care, and we return to the same point. At some point, both the country and Republicans need to say enough is enough. Democratic ideas on healthcare are working about as well as their policing, illegal immigration, and city management strategies - which is to say, not at all.

The further leftward the country drifts on healthcare, the worse care gets, the more expensive everything gets, and the more incredulous the demands Democrats make. We've moved into such a bizarre point that Democrats have issued a shutdown just to save Obamacare.

Republicans shouldn't give in to these Democratic Party demands. Put up a series of endless votes until they break on the government shutdown. And then hammer out some real policies that would change healthcare for the better.

The Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, is not, and never has been, the answer. It's a grotesque abomination that singlehandedly defines the failures of the Obama era. An expert class so in love with itself that it can't even see how it's made the world worse.

It's time for Republicans to live up to their original promise: Repeal and replace Obamacare.