In a recent Fox News appearance, Representative David Schweikert (R-AZ) discussed affordability, calling Democrats' demands for subsidies "lunacy."
The discussion began with getting back to work after the government shutdown ended last week, which Rep. Schweikert said has "a lot of blocking and tackling and things we need to get done, just even working on the President's economic agenda, trying to actually help there be an understanding of the lunacy of the Democrats' position on wanting subsidies on top of subsidies."
Rep. Schweikert referred to the demand for subsidies and tax credits in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which Democrats hoped to extend, and said it has turned healthcare into "a financing issue."
Nevertheless, "to the Speaker's credit and to many of us in the House, we are working on trying to figure out how to make healthcare less expensive, not more money to subsidize insurance companies," the Arizona Congressman added.
While he said allowing Americans to keep more money in their pockets is part of the solution, "we still have to deal with the other step, and that is: Why do so many things cost so much when you go to a doctor's office or a hospital?"
Schweikert posited that "there are all these breakthroughs in cures, in technology, in new approaches, and the government is often the barrier to you being able to get those and get those at a much more affordable price."
Finally, addressing the matter of putting more money in Americans' wallets and lowering prices in other areas, Schweikert reiterated that "affordability is a combination of what things cost, but also what has been your wage growth." "And after the years of the Biden inflation for here in my Phoenix area," the Congressman concluded, "if you do not make about 28% more than you did four or five years ago, you are poor."
