AJC: “If my conversations with exhausted and exasperated Georgians are any indication, Republicans would get far more votes if they figured out a way to fix the health care system in the country than ‘owning the libs’ on social media ever will.”
A new column in the AJC highlights that as Georgians are about to face “triple-digit increases” to their premiums if Donald Trump and Republicans continue to oppose extension in shutdown negotiations, GOP U.S. Senate candidates Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins have not shown up for work in over three weeks to help reopen the government and fight to protect Georgians’ health care.
A recent analysis by KFF revealed that Georgians in Collins’ and Carter’s districts could see their health premiums rise by an average of 345% and 296%, respectively, if ACA premium tax credits expire at the end of the year.
Read for yourself:
AJC: Trump forged Middle East peace. How about working with Congress next?
By Patricia Murphy | October 15, 2025
KEY POINTS:
- While the House was in recess Monday, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Jackson, went to Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff’s Atlanta office to record a campaign video of himself.
- In it, he called the senator Democrats’ “errand boy” and gave Ossoff a “pink slip,” since Collins is one of several Republicans running against Ossoff for his Senate seat next year.
- But Ossoff was back in Washington, casting votes in the Senate and posting videos of his own, not about Republican House members, but about the Georgians about to experience triple-digit increases to their health insurance premiums if Congress fails to act soon.
- In one video, Rebecca Burns from Athens says, “I just went last week to check to see what my health care premiums are going to be and my health care is going up 210%.”
- Another woman, Amy Bielawski from Tucker, says “The ACA premiums allow me to have insurance, really for the first time in my life.” If premiums go up dramatically, as they are expected to, she can’t imagine how she’d keep her insurance in the future.
- If my conversations with exhausted and exasperated Georgians are any indication, Republicans would get far more votes if they figured out a way to fix the health care system in the country than “owning the libs” on social media ever will.
- Leading the way out of the government shutdown and running the country well for the next year and a half would be a sign of competence, not weakness.
- And here’s where Trump could come in. Instead of insulting and demonizing Democrats, whose votes Republicans need to reopen the government, he could instead try to find a place where each side could give in and areas where they could agree.