INTERNACIONAL
Mexican sewage gushing into Navy SEAL training waters is US’ ‘next Camp Lejeune,’ vets warn
«Disgusting,» said Navy SEAL veteran Rob Sweetman in describing the smell and mist of Mexican sewage spewing into U.S. waters as he stood on a hill overlooking the Tijuana River estuary in California.
Sweetman, a Navy veteran who served on the SEALs for eight years, spoke to Fox News Digital to sound the alarm on a water crisis rocking the San Diego area, including where SEALs train, taking a camera with him to show viewers firsthand how the contaminated water flows into the U.S.
Just one mile away from where Sweetman spoke, SEALs and candidates train in the same water, which has sickened more than 1,000 candidates in a five-year period, per a Department of Defense watchdog report released in February.
San Diego and the surrounding area are in a clean-water crisis that has raged for decades, but it is finding revived concern from the Trump administration as SEALs and local veterans warn of a «national security crisis» that they say is on par with the Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, water crisis.
Thousands of Marines and others were sickened at North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune base between 1953 and 1987 as a result of water contaminated by industrial solvents used to drink, bathe and cook at the training facilities and on-base housing.
EPA CHIEF TAKES ON MEXICAN ‘SEWAGE CRISIS’ FLOWING INTO US WATERS WHERE NAVY SEALS TRAIN
The Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) class participates in a surf passage training exercise at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado in Coronado, California. (Getty Images)
Kate Monroe, a Marine Corps veteran and CEO of VetComm — which advocates for disabled veterans and those navigating the VA’s complicated health system — told Fox Digital in an April Zoom interview, «San Diego County is as big as some states. It’s giant. Millions of people live here and are breathing the air of this water. It goes well beyond the military. It’s a crisis. It’s a FEMA-level travesty, and we have just been hiding it.»
The Navy has deep roots in the San Diego area, with the United States Naval Special Warfare Command headquartered in America’s Finest City and where Navy SEAL candidates complete their arduous six-month Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado.
Naval Special Warfare Center reported 1,168 cases of acute gastrointestinal illnesses among SEAL candidates between January 2019 and May 2023 alone. (Jeff Gum)
The sewage problem flowing from neighboring Mexico into the U.S. has percolated in San Diego for years.
But the water crisis hit crisis level when it was reported in 2024 that 44 billion gallons of contaminated water imbued with raw sewage was released along the California coast in 2023, the most on record since at least 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time.
The issue of sewage water flowing into U.S. waters is largely attributed to outdated wastewater infrastructure across the southern border, local media outlets recently reported, with Mexico reportedly in the midst of addressing its infrastructure to curb the leaks of sewage water.
The Tijuana River has for decades been plagued by sewage and waste that has affected its beaches and neighboring San Diego.
In February, the Department of Defense’s inspector general released a report finding that the Naval Special Warfare Center reported 1,168 cases of acute gastrointestinal illnesses among SEAL candidates between January 2019 and May 2023 alone.
Navy SEAL trainees are shown during Hell Week. (Getty Images)
«Navy SEAL candidate exposure to contaminated water occurred because (Naval Special Warfare Command) did not follow San Diego County’s Beach and Bay Water Quality Program’s beach closure postings,» the inspector general report found. «As a result of Navy SEAL candidate exposure to contaminated water during training, candidates are presented with increased health risks and NAVSPECWARCOM’s training mission could be impacted.»
‘IBS, GERD, skin issues, weird cancers’
It was when Monroe, who is well-versed with veteran health through VetComm, was working with SEALs who were retiring that she realized the severity of the San Diego water pollution of the past few years.
She observed an increase in health claims related to intestinal issues and «weird cancers,» which was a departure from typical claims related to PTSD or orthopedic ailments.
US SENATOR BLASTS PRESIDENT OF MEXICO, SAYS TOXIC SEWAGE DUMP THREATENS ‘NATIONAL SECURITY’
«I started creating relationships with the SEAL teams, the people that were exiting the SEALs, you know, at 14 years, 20 years, nearing their retirement,» Monroe told Fox News Digital. «And the claims that we were making for these guys were surprising to me because a lot of them, they have combat PTSD, a lot of orthopedic issues. But we were having guys coming to us with, like, IBS, GERD, skin issues, weird cancers, and they were all attributing it to their time spent in San Diego training to be a SEAL in that water here that we have in San Diego.»
Swimming and spending time in water contaminated with feces can lead to a host of illnesses, including bacterial, viral and parasitic infections that leave people nauseous, vomiting and rushing to the bathroom.
Navy SEAL vet Jeff Gum was only days from entering the SEAL’s aptly named Hell Week — the fourth week of basic conditioning for SEAL candidates — when nausea hit him. He was trapped in a cycle of drinking water and vomiting when he realized a serious illness had its grips on him.
Gum is a retired SEAL who served from 2007 to 2017 and was exposed to the contaminated water in 2008 during BUD/S training off the San Diego coast.
Navy SEAL vet Jeff Gum (Jeff Gum)
«I couldn’t stop,» Gum recounted of how he couldn’t keep water down without vomiting. «You never really want to go to medical because they can pull you out or make you get rolled to the next class, but I couldn’t even drink water without throwing up. It’s the only time in my whole life that this has happened.»
Gum’s nausea overcame him on a Friday in 2008, with Hell Week kicking off that Sunday night. Hell Week is a more than five-day training that puts candidates through rigorous training, including cold-water immersion, «surf torture,» buoy swims, mud runs, all while operating on minimal sleep.
SAN DIEGO SUBURB FACES ‘SEWAGE CRISIS’ FROM LOCAL BEACH
Navy SEAL vet Jeff Gum in Iraq. (Jeff Gum)
«The sun goes down, and the instructors come out with big machine guns, that kicks it off,» Gum said of how Hell Week began. «We run out to the beach, right into the ocean. You spend the rest of the week soaking wet, covered in sand. And everywhere you go, you have a 200-pound boat on your head that you and your boat crew of six to seven guys will share the weight of, and you just run everywhere.»
Hell Week training for the SEALs includes carrying boats. (Getty Images)
«You’re just in the water. There’s no escaping it. It’s part of what makes BUD/S BUD/S. And it’s part of what makes the Navy SEALs America’s premier maritime special operators,» he said. «There’s not getting around how comfortable we have to be in the water. Cold, wet, miserable, doesn’t matter, we suck it up and we do it.»
MEXICO IS POISONING SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA IN A BORDER CRISIS ALMOST NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT
Gum received IVs the weekend ahead of Hell Week and was able to keep food and water down by the time the intense training began, but he had been diagnosed with viral gastroenteritis, commonly known as the stomach flu and highly contagious, which then morphed into rhabdomyolysis due to exerting so much energy while dehydrated from viral gastroenteritis
Rhabdomyolysis is a serious illness that causes muscle to break down quickly and can lead to «muscle death» and the release of high levels of myoglobin in the blood that can injure a person’s kidneys.
The border fence between Imperial Beach near San Ysidro, California, right, and Playas de Tijuana near Tijuana, Mexico. (Getty Images)
Gum failed the first phase of BUD/S, but he was granted permission to return to training for a second time after senior leaders saw he had viral gastroenteritis. Gum again went through the first phase of BUD/S, but again he went to medical, where tests showed that his «blood came back toxic» from rhabdomyolysis.
The SEAL was put on medical leave and able to fully recover in his home state of Pennsylvania before he «crushed» the hellish training on his third try. He served on SEAL Team Five, deployed to Fallujah, Iraq, and taught combatives and prisoner handling to SEAL trainees in San Diego from 2013 until his retirement in 2017.
Sweetman told Fox Digital that «everyone who goes through training is going to get sick.»
Tijuana, Mexico, top, and San Diego (Getty Images)
«They’re going to get infections, and it’s terrible,» Sweetman told Fox Digital in an April Zoom interview. «And some might argue that this is Navy SEAL training. You have to go through the toughest conditions to be able to survive and make it. I would say that it’s gotten a little bit out of hand.»
The SEAL vet, who lives in the San Diego area, said the issue has gotten worse in recent years as Tijuana’s population grows.
I TRAINED WITH THE NAVY SEALS FOR A DAY. THIS IS WHAT I LEARNED
«When I went through training, it was absolutely a thing that they’d shut down the Imperial Beach because the ocean water was so bad, because the waste coming from Tijuana had infected the water,» Sweetman said. «You could always smell it. And oftentimes, even in the bay, we’d need to wash our wet suit after being out on a swim.»
Rob Sweetman served eight years as a Navy SEAL. (Rob Sweetman)
«Now, some of the training causes us to be deeply immersed in the water, and infections and all types of things can come up from being in the water. But I’ll say that it has gotten significantly worse as the population has doubled in Tijuana.»
Raw sewage from Tijuana is flowing into the San Diego area, causing illness to spread among SEALs and candidates. (Rob Sweetman)
‘A huge national crisis’
Gum and Monroe both said that water issue is a crisis, with Gum identifying it as a national security crisis that could cull well-suited candidates from the SEALs due to acute illnesses as well as sicken active SEALs.
«This is a huge national crisis,» he said. «Like half the SEAL teams are located in San Diego, the other half are in Virginia Beach. So when you’ve got half the SEAL teams who are getting exposed to this, then it’s a major issue.»
Monroe called it the «next Camp Lejeune» crisis, which sickened Marines with contaminated drinking water at the North Carolina Marine Corps base camp for nearly three decades. The crisis has cost the U.S. billions of dollars, including legal costs and settlements to vets and their families.
«This is going to be, in my opinion, the next Camp Lejeune water problem that cost our government $21 to $25 billion,» she said. «That’s just in the compensation directly, like the lawsuit portion of it. That doesn’t cover all the compensation you have to pay these veterans tax-free for the rest of their lives. I would say that this issue here in San Diego, if you look at it over the time that people have been training here, you’re looking at another $21 to $25 billion, plus all of the compensation that’s going to come. It would be cheaper for our country to fix this than it would to allow it to continue.»
The three veterans who spoke to Fox Digital all responded with optimism that the Trump administration will tackle the crisis and end it.
WILL CAIN, NAVY SEALS HONORS VETERANS AT 2024 NYC SEAL SWIM
Fox Digital exclusively reported earlier in April that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is heading to San Diego to meet with SEALs and see the crisis firsthand April 22, 2025.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is heading to San Diego to meet with SEALs and see the water firsthand April 22, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
«The raw sewage flowing from Mexico into the Tijuana River is creating serious, detrimental issues for communities with affected waterways,» Zeldin told Fox Digital ahead of the Tuesday trip.
«Ensuring America’s waters are clean is part of EPA’s core mission, and I look forward to being on the ground in San Diego in a few days to assess the situation and hear directly from those affected,» he said. «It is top-of-mind knowing that as this issue persists, more and more Navy SEALs remain at risk of sickness because of the contaminated waterways they train in. I strongly believe the time has come to finalize and implement an urgent strategy to end decades of raw sewage entering the U.S.»
BUD/S students participate in SEAL training at the Naval Special Warfare Center, Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado, California. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
A spokesperson for Naval Special Warfare added in a comment to Fox News Digital that SEALs and candidates’ health are a top priority and that officials are monitoring water quality in areas where they train.
«The Navy takes the health and safety of our personnel very seriously,» the spokesperson said. «Water quality at Navy training locations on the beach waterfront is closely monitored in coordination with local authorities. We are fully committed to ensuring warfighters at U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command train in a safe environment.»
Mexican sewage flows into the U.S. (Rob Sweetman)
Ahead of Zeldin’s visit, the water flowing from Mexico into the U.S. is as «nasty» as ever, according to Sweetman.
«What I see here is a tremendous amount of green, nasty water,» Sweetman said while pointing at the murky water. «I mean, you can smell it. This is disgusting. As it pours through, it doesn’t clear up. There’s no clarity to it. It just turns into a foam. And the foam sits on top of the water where it’s murky and it just continues to flow towards Imperial Beach and the ocean down here.»
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«It’s absolutely disgusting. I can’t comment strongly enough about how bad it is to be here. I’m here specifically because I want people to see just how bad it is,» he said. «The moment that I leave here, I’m going to go take a shower.»
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President Donald Trump granted clemency this year to a range of figures he viewed as victims of an unfair justice system. Some were tied to his newfound interest in cryptocurrency or shared in his 2020 election grievances, while another was simply brought up during a round of golf.
While presidents of both parties have long used their pardon power in controversial ways, Trump’s clemency activity in 2025 stood out for its volume and for the deal-making style that has been a defining feature of his approach to power.
What follows is a list of some of the president’s most controversial pardons in 2025.
Jan. 6 defendants
The day Trump took office, he issued mass clemency to nearly all his supporters who had been convicted of federal offenses related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Trump said at the time they had been «treated very unfair» by prosecutors and the courts.
Roughly 1,600 people faced charges over the Capitol attack, and the Department of Justice secured guilty pleas or convictions for more than 1,200 of them, according to federal data. About 200 pleaded guilty to felonies that included assaulting officers, and more than 200 others were convicted in trials of offenses that included attacking law enforcement.
Trump singled out 14 of the defendants, some of whom received prison sentences that stretched beyond a decade, and commuted their sentences instead of pardoning them. They included numerous Oath Keepers and Proud Boys leaders.
BOASBERG REVERSES COURSE ON JAN. 6 DEFENDANTS PARDONED BY TRUMP
President Donald Trump’s supporters rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., while some breach restricted areas on Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
The president also directed the DOJ to drop pending cases for all the remaining defendants. The grand act of clemency wiped out one of the DOJ’s largest and most resource-intensive law enforcement operations in history. Cases were brought throughout all four years of the Biden administration.
Changpeng Zhao
The founder and former CEO of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency platform, was convicted of anti-money laundering violations and received a full pardon in October 2025.
The pardon came one week after Donald Trump Jr. introduced a lobbyist for Zhao to Trump while on stage at Charlie Kirk’s memorial.
Critics observed that Binance has boosted the Trump family’s cryptocurrency company, but a lawyer denied any business reasons for the pardon, instead telling the Wall Street Journal Zhao was «pardoned for justice.»
George Santos
The former U.S. representative who was found to be a serial fabulist after his congressional run had his seven-year prison sentence commuted in October 2025.
Santos pleaded guilty to federal fraud and identity-theft charges, admitting to using campaign funds to buy luxury products and pay off his credit card debt.
Fellow Long Island Republicans who had previously called for his resignation reacted angrily to the commutation, with Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., calling it «not justice» and unfair to the people Santos defrauded.
HONDURAS ISSUES WARRANT FOR FORMER PRESIDENT PARDONED BY TRUMP
Former Rep. George Santos arrives at court in Central Islip, N.Y., Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Trump said Santos, who became an outspoken supporter of the president prior to receiving the pardon, was mistreated in jail. Santos «has been in solitary confinement for long stretches of time and, by all accounts, has been horribly mistreated,» Trump said.
Tim Leiweke
Leiweke, a sports executive, was charged by the Trump DOJ’s Antitrust Division with rigging a bid to build an arena at the University of Texas.
The DOJ accused Leiweke of violating the Sherman Act by gypping the university and taxpayers out of a fair bidding process to benefit his own company.
Former Rep. Trey Gowdy, who represented Leiweke, persuaded Trump to grant his client the pardon after a round of golf at Mar-a-Lago, the Wall Street Journal first reported.
Juan Orlando Hernandez
Trump issued a heavily criticized pardon to Hernandez, the former president of Honduras, who had been convicted in a U.S. federal court on drug-trafficking and firearms charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison for helping cocaine traffickers move hundreds of tons of narcotics into the U.S.
Trump’s pardon, granted in December, freed Hernandez from prison in West Virginia just days before Honduras’s presidential election. Honduras responded by issuing a warrant for Hernandez’s arrest.
Trump claimed Hernandez had been unfairly prosecuted by the Biden administration. Critics observed that Trump has pushed legal boundaries to carry out one of his top agenda items, cracking down on drug trafficking, and that Hernandez’s release was counterproductive to that mission.
The Chrisleys
Todd and Julie Chrisley, reality TV stars from «Chrisley Knows Best,» were convicted in 2022 of bank fraud and tax evasion and both serving prison sentences when Trump pardoned them in May. Trump cited «pretty harsh treatment» as his reason for the clemency.
Their daughter, Savannah, endorsed Trump during the Republican National Committee convention ahead of the 2024 election. The daughter revealed in December she is stepping into a cohost role on «The View.» Incidentally, Savannah Chrisley’s future cohosts had slammed her parents’ pardon as unethical.
NEW MOTION SEEKS COLORADO CLERK TINA PETERS’ RELEASE, CHALLENGING STATE AFTER TRUMP PARDON
Reality TV star Todd Chrisley speaks as his daughter Savannah Chrisley looks on during a news conference on Friday, May 30, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (George Walker IV/AP Photo)
«If you are a reality star with a lot of money, and a tax cheat, and you commit fraud, then that’s good. We’re going to give you a pardon,» anti-Trump host Joy Behar had said.
Devon Archer
Trump granted a full pardon to Archer, who was convicted in a federal fraud case, in March 2025. Archer was a longtime business partner of Hunter Biden but became an ally to House Republicans as they investigated the Bidens for what they said were corrupt foreign business dealings.
Henry Cuellar and his wife
The Democratic congressman from Texas and his wife were pardoned after the Biden DOJ brought federal bribery charges against them.
Trump claimed they were unfairly targeted because Henry Cuellar, a moderate who represented a battleground district in South Texas, supported more border security than many of his Democratic colleagues. However, when Cuellar filed for reelection as a Democrat after Trump’s pardon, the president said he was displeased.
«Such a lack of LOYALTY,» Trump wrote on social media. «Oh well, next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!»
Tina Peters
Trump announced in December that he pardoned Tina Peters, the former Mesa County, Colorado, elections clerk who was serving a 9-year state prison sentence for orchestrating a data-breach scheme to advance fraud claims related to the 2020 election.
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Trump framed the pardon as support for her efforts to «expose voter fraud,» but because her convictions were in Colorado state court, legal experts and state officials say the president has no authority to pardon state-level convictions, and her sentence has not been automatically erased or resulted in her release.
donald trump,justice department,elections,capitol protests
INTERNACIONAL
Quién es quién en el nuevo conflicto de Yemen que enfrenta a Arabia Saudita y Emiratos Árabes Unidos
La escalada de tensiones en el sur del Yemen entre Arabia Saudita y Emiratos Árabes Unidos (EAU) ha revelado el conflicto interno en la coalición antihutí, con acusaciones de Riad contra Abu Dhabi por amenazar su seguridad nacional, en medio de la ofensiva secesionista yemení en el sur.
La coalición militar liderada por Arabia Saudita bombardeó este martes un cargamento de armas procedente de Emiratos en el puerto de Mukalla, en el sur del Yemen, destinado a los secesionistas del Consejo de Transición Sureño (CTS), un episodio de violencia que marca también la primera acusación pública de Riad contra su aliado por alimentar divisiones internas.
El Consejo de Liderazgo Presidencial (CLP) -que actúa como órgano ejecutivo del Yemen reconocido internacionalmente– encabezado por Rashad al Alimi decretó en esta jornada un estado de emergencia de 90 días en las zonas bajo su control, un bloqueo aéreo, terrestre y marítimo de 72 horas, y rompió el acuerdo de defensa con EAU.
Y exigió a los emiratíes la retirada inmediata de sus fuerzas y personal en 24 horas, al considerar que Abu Dhabi instiga un “golpe de Estado” al respaldar la ofensiva del CTS en las provincias orientales de Hadramut y Al Mahra.
Esta crisis, originada en la ofensiva relámpago del CTS a principios de diciembre que le permitió controlar dos provincias ricas en recursos y fronterizas con Omán y Arabia Saudita, evidencia las fisuras en la coalición formada en 2015 y que podría beneficiar indirectamente a los hutíes.
Estos son los principales actores implicados en el conflicto.
Esta alianza, liderada formalmente por Arabia Saudita y, paradójicamente, por Emiratos Árabes Unidos, se formó en 2015 para apoyar al Gobierno yemení reconocido internacionalmente y por la ONU contra los rebeldes chiíes hutíes -respaldados por Irán-, que tomaron el control de Saná y amplias zonas del país en 2014.
Esta coalición, donde Arabia Saudita es el único en la práctica con activos militares, busca restaurar la legitimidad del Gobierno exiliado en Adén y contrarrestar la influencia iraní sobre los hutíes, aunque ha enfrentado críticas por el impacto humanitario de sus acciones y que ahora ha revelado sus divisiones internas.
Además de Riad y Abu Dhabi, esta alianza también cuenta nominalmente con Jordania, Marruecos y Egipto como miembros, así como Kuwait y Baréin. También ha contado con respaldo internacional como Estados Unidos, Francia y Alemania, entre otros, para capacitar y compartir inteligencia.
EAU apoya militar y económicamente a los secesionistas del sur, agrupados en el Consejo de Transición Sureño (CTS), formado en 2017 por Aidarus al Zubaidi tras su destitución como gobernador de Adén, y que se oponen a los hutíes.
Pese a que Al Zubaidi sea el vicepresidente del Consejo de Liderazgo Presidencial desde 2022, lidera al grupo separatista que lanzó la ofensiva este diciembre contra las unidades militares ligadas al Gobierno reconocido.
El CTS busca reavivar un Yemen del Sur independiente, como el que existió entre 1967 y 1990, y ha recibido envíos de armas desde puertos emiratíes como Fujairah, lo que ha provocado acusaciones de “escalada peligrosa” por parte de Riad y el Gobierno yemení, incluyendo el control reciente de provincias orientales como Hadramut (rica en petróleo) y Al Mahra, fronterizas con Omán y Arabia Saudita.
El Gobierno yemení (o CLP) es un órgano colegiado cuyo líder es Al Alimi, que asumió el poder tras la renuncia de Abdo Rabu Mansur Hadi en 2022 bajo presiones saudíes. Su lucha primordial es contra los hutíes para recuperar el control territorial y restaurar la unidad del país, pero ahora enfrenta divisiones internas instigadas por EAU.
Este Gobierno, con sede en Adén, -los hutíes tomaron Saná hace 11 años- ha impuesto medidas como el estado de emergencia y la ruptura de acuerdos con Abu Dhabi por considerar que el apoyo emiratí al CTS socava su autoridad, fomenta conflictos tribales y podría beneficiar a los rebeldes hutíes, amenazando la cohesión institucional y la seguridad en zonas clave como las provincias orientales, ricas en petróleo.
Su poder militar es muy limitado, y en la práctica se restringe a las fuerzas de la coalición liderada por los saudíes.
Este movimiento insurgente chií respaldado por Irán inició un golpe en 2014 capturando Saná y amplias regiones del norte y oeste del Yemen. Representan el principal adversario de la coalición y el Gobierno reconocido, controlando la capital y zonas estratégicas que incluyen accesos al mar Rojo.
Aunque no están directamente involucrados en la actual crisis secesionista, las autoridades yemeníes y saudíes advierten de que las tensiones internas podrían reavivar luchas que los benefician indirectamente, permitiendo a los hutíes consolidar posiciones y explotar la fragmentación, en un conflicto que ha durado más de una década y ha causado un colapso humanitario en el país.
(Con información de EFE)
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At least a dozen states are scrambling to limit health insurance premium hikes after Congress failed to renew enhanced Obamacare subsidies, leaving millions of Americans facing higher health care costs.
States including California, Colorado, Maryland and New Mexico have approved or are considering temporary measures to help some residents afford coverage, but some officials across the country said the cost of replacing federal subsidies for millions of enrollees is beyond the reach of state budgets, according to Politico.
«We can carry the cost for a little bit, but at some point, we will need Congress to act,» New Mexico House Speaker Javier Martínez told the outlet. New Mexico is so far the only state to fully replace the expired subsidies.
Obamacare, officially known as the Affordable Care Act, was former President Barack Obama’s signature piece of legislation which expanded healthcare coverage to millions of Americans in 2010. Critics argue it forced people to buy insurance, raised costs for some consumers and significantly expanded the federal government’s role in health care.
SPEAKER JOHNSON EKES OUT HEALTHCARE BILL VICTORY AFTER HOUSE GOP OBAMACARE REBELLION
At least a dozen states are scrambling to limit health insurance premium hikes after Congress failed to renew enhanced Obamacare subsidies, leaving millions of Americans facing higher health care costs. (iStock)
The looming expiration of the subsidies hung over negotiations during the longest-ever government shutdown in the fall, as Republicans and Democrats tried — and failed — to pass competing plans to extend or replace the enhanced tax credits.
The lapse of the subsidies is expected to push millions of Americans out of the individual insurance market, increasing pressure on state Medicaid programs and hospitals already facing financial strain. State responses have varied widely, reflecting political divisions, fiscal constraints and differing views on the Affordable Care Act.
According to Politico, California, which anticipated the subsidies would expire, is spending nearly $200 million to support roughly 300,000 lower-income residents, but officials warn that hundreds of thousands more could still lose coverage.
COLLINS, MORENO UNVEIL OBAMACARE PLAN AS REPUBLICANS SEARCH FOR SOLUTION TO EXPIRING SUBSIDIES
Obamacare, officially known as the Affordable Care Act, was former President Barack Obama’s signature piece of legislation which expanded healthcare coverage to millions of Americans in 2010. (By Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images; Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Some states are using regulatory maneuvers rather than direct funding to stretch remaining subsidies. Other states, including Georgia and Washington, say budget shortfalls or political opposition prevent them from acting.
Most states have taken no action at all, including both Republican-led states that oppose the Affordable Care Act and some Democrat-led states that support it, according to Politico.
A few lawmakers in Maine and other battlegrounds worry their efforts could disincentivize Congress from coming up with a federal solution.
Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, announced their plan to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies by two years, include income caps and end zero-cost premiums. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images ; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
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Earlier this month, Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, held bipartisan confabs to hash out a framework for an Obamacare fix that could meet the desires of both sides of the aisle, but it has not been formally written into a bill that passed either chamber yet.
Any fix would likely involve a short-term extension of subsidies paired with Republican demands for guardrails, such as income limits or cost controls.
Fox News’ Alex Miller contributed to this report.
politics,health,barack obama,california,senate,republicans,democratic party
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