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Ahead of Midterms, Obamacare Costs Spike, Again - The Monday AM Quickie 11/2/26

By Whitney Curry Wimbish —

One more day. Just one more. -Whitney

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THE BIG NEWS

Obamacare Costs Slam Americans Ahead of Midterms

Yesterday was the first day people could shop for next year's Affordable Care Act insurance plans, AKA Obamacare, and the cost is going up by double digits for the time in a row thanks to Trump and GOP policy choices, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported. Plan premiums will increase by 13 percent next year, the second-highest rate increase in history. The highest was last year, when the rate went up by 26 percent.

Per the Journal, the 2027 increase means a 40-year-old on a mid-tier “benchmark” plan will pay a monthly average of $704, compared to $624 this year and about $497 in 2025.

The increase is yet another reminder that the ultra-wealthy far-right thugs who run the United States (for now) believe modern medicine is a luxury reserved only for the rich. Republicans ripped $1 trillion out of the healthcare system via the One Big Beautiful Bill law to pay for tax breaks for their wealthy friends and a forever war. They thought they were being clever by timing some of the deadliest cuts until after the midterms, such as the work requirements for Medicaid that will force up to 10 million people out of the program. But the devastation of their policy changes are already ripping through the medical sector. Hundreds of hospitals have already ended services or shut down entirely, for example; the number of uninsured people is rapidly growing. Perhaps Republicans forgot that the Affordable Care Act requires new annual insurance rates be published just before every November election. Perhaps they did not care. Either way, there are plenty of reasons to vote against them tomorrow.

Election Roundup: Judge Throws Out Trump’s Attempt to Steal Alaska Senate Election 

  • Michigan Dems Kick Wrecker Haley Stevens Out of Party After She Endorses MAGA Republican Mike Rogers, Attends Church With Him The sorest loser on earth, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), galvanized the entire Democratic party against her yesterday when she endorsed Rogers over her former rival for the Democratic Senate nomination, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called her decision “a despicable betrayal,” her staff resigned, and the Sunrise Movement called for her to be stripped of her committee assignments. via the Detroit Free Press, NBC News and the Washington Post.
  • Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy Suffers Stroke, Expected to Recover The Connecticut lawmaker began to feel symptoms on Saturday; he was taken to a hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. via the Washington Post.
  • Kash Patel’s FBI Harassing Alaska Donors to Senate Candidate Dan J. Sullivan “The FBI on Friday began reaching out to donors of Dan J. Sullivan asking about potential deception, as federal authorities ramped up their investigation over the U.S. Senate candidate in Alaska who shares a name with the Republican incumbent.” via the AP. 
  • Rio Grande Valley Says No to Trump Voters in the Texas region previously supported Trump and the GOP; now they’re saying they regret that and plan to vote Democrat. via HuffPost. 
  • Democrats Have 12-Point Early Voting Turnout Advantage More than 50 million Americans cast early ballots as of Sunday, a new record. The turnout is especially high in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. But Republican voters have the advantage in Florida, Michigan and Texas. via Bloomberg, the Guardian and NBC News.  
  • Judge Demands Trump Stop Threatening Election Workers The departments of Justice and Homeland Security must stop telling election officials to set aside certain ballots because they believe they’ve been cast by noncitizens. via the Guardian, the Hill and the Washington Post.  
  • Election Officials Scrambling to Prevent AI Election Interference After researchers discovered that the entire internet is vulnerable to AI hacks, election technology companies are rushing to patch their systems; “I am planning for Election Day disruption,” said Michael Moore, an election official in Arizona. “We are planning as if there will definitely be a cyberattack.” via the Washington Post.  

QUICKEST QUICKIES

  • Trump Expelling Afghan Immigrants, Condemns Them to Taliban Retaliation The regime is sending Afghan immigrants back to Afghanistan via Pakistan, including those who helped the US military and aid groups and at least one gay man. via the AP and the NYT. 
  • Protesters Stage Mass Resistance to Modi’s Voter Suppression  Hundreds of thousands of people gathered on Sunday in India’s capital, New Delhi, in what was one of the largest demonstrations against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in recent memory; protesters accuse Modi of “vote theft” after his government kicked 130 million names off the voter rolls. via the NYT. 
  • Massive Protests Over Affordability Crisis Spread to Germany Hundreds of thousands of protesters across the continent continued to express their discontent over government failures and hosted huge demonstrations on Halloween in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal; one banner in Paris referenced the violent police response: “We do not need tear gas for our future to be blurry.” via the AP, NBC News and The Real News. 
  • FBI Blames $6.3 Billion Binance Hack on North Korea The crypto exchange says it has replaced 90 percent of the money stolen and promised that users will not bear the financial impact of the theft. via NBC News.

SOME NUMBER

$130 Billion

That’s how much the US oil industry has profited thanks to Trump’s unforced and illegal Iran war. It’s almost three times the amount the industry made during the same period last year.

ON THE SHOW TODAY

11/2: Emma is hosting solo today and will be talking midterms.

DON'T MISS MR CLIPS‌

Pat McAfee Is A Giant Snowflake

Sports.

Republicans Send A-Team To New Hampshire

Sex?

PARTING WORDS

“A lot of what’s going on out here at the COP is just a bunch of baloney and beautiful speeches and BS. We cannot have – we cannot expect – a consensus between every nation on Earth on every topic. That’s ridiculous. COPs have been designed to fail, and they are not disappointing.”

– Panama’s Environment Minister, Juan Carlos Navarro, commenting on the United Nations’ biodiversity COP17 convention in Yerevan, Armenia, which concluded on Saturday. The UN has held the convention 17 times over the last 34 years, yet governments have failed to meet virtually all of the goals it has set out to end the destruction of the natural world. “This just makes my blood boil,” Navarro said, “because while we fiddle, Rome burns.”