With Obamacare subsidies set to expire in roughly 15 days, 24 million Americans will see a hike in their insurance premiums. When asked what he’d say to those families, Donald Trump offered insults and his fantasy healthcare pitch that still doesn’t exist in reality. On Friday, Dec. 12, the president took questions from the press in the Oval Office when one reporter raised a straightforward concern. He reminded Trump that the enhanced Obamacare subsidies are expiring at the end of the year. That is, in two and a half weeks. “What’s your message to those 24 million Americans who will see their insurance premiums go up?” he asked. But Trump’s first response wasn’t about healthcare. It was about the reporter. You make it sound so bad because obviously, you’re a sycophant for Democrats. You’re obviously a provider of bad news for Republicans. After that, he did turn to the issue, but with a familiar monologue. Trump claimed Republicans are preparing “great legislation” and repeated his long-standing argument that Obamacare is “horrible,” “far too expensive,” and primarily designed to make insurance companies rich. According to him, his healthcare plan is to send “billions of dollars to the people, not to the insurance companies.” “We want the money not to be paid at all to insurance companies… We wanna give the money to the people and let the people buy their own great healthcare.” As he’s done before, Trump tried to sell the point by exaggerating facts. He claimed insurance company stocks have risen “1700% over a short period of time.” Adding that insurers have taken in “hundreds of billions, and even trillions of dollars.” Q: “What’s your message to those 24 million Americans who will see their insurance premiums go up?”Trump: “Well, don’t make it sound so bad… We want to give the money to the people…The Republicans have taken over healthcare in a positive way.” pic.twitter.com/IXO1SNcwHT— CSPAN (@cspan) December 13, 2025 He also blamed Democrats for being “totally controlled by the insurance companies” and insisted Republicans have now “taken over healthcare in a positive way.” But amid all the boasting and finger-pointing, one thing was missing: an actual answer to the question. While Trump was outlining his theoretical healthcare utopia, the clock was still ticking. The Obamacare subsidies expire in weeks, not years. Premium notices are already going out. Families are already doing the math. And Trump’s “give the money to the people” plan? It still isn’t real. He’s been pitching some version of this idea for a while now. His model is basically to “take money from insurers, hand it to consumers, and let them buy their healthcare.” However, he never explained how it would lower costs in a private insurance market that sets its own prices. Even under his own logic, people would still be buying insurance from the same companies. Because not buying insurance and paying upfront for every hospital visit is not an option, given healthcare costs. That’s the contradiction Trump never addresses. His plan doesn’t eliminate insurers or cap premiums. It just changes the route the money takes before landing right back in corporate hands. On the contrary, it strips away the subsidies that currently make coverage affordable for millions. And even if Trump’s “great healthcare” plan worked in theory, it doesn’t exist in practice. There is no bill, rollout, or timeline for the plan. We do not have a stopgap to prevent the immediate premium hikes facing millions of Americans at the end of this year. So when Trump suggests “don’t make it sound so bad,” what he really means is, “don’t describe the reality too clearly.” Because the reality is, Trump is failing terribly at making healthcare affordable or accessible for Americans.