Hour 3 - Guest Host Brian Mudd

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 3 – Guest Host Brian Mudd
Date: November 28, 2025
Podcast: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show (iHeartPodcasts)
Host (Guest): Brian Mudd (in for Clay Travis & Buck Sexton)

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode, guest-hosted by Brian Mudd, focuses on the state of health care in the United States, critiquing the current insurance-based system under the Affordable Care Act (ACA/Obamacare), analyzing its shortcomings, and discussing the potential for a new approach — "Trumpcare." Mudd frames this proposal as a transformative fix, prioritizing price transparency, consumer choice, and direct control over health care spending, and he emphasizes the political and practical logic behind making such a shift.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Deep Critique of the Current Health Care System

• Obamacare’s Broken Promises:
  Mudd opens by satirizing early ACA messaging, mocking promises like "if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor” (03:45). He asserts that these guarantees were not kept, and the ACA became a massive corporate welfare program for insurers at taxpayers’ expense.

• Insurance ≠ Care:
  He identifies the core problem as conflation of health insurance with actual health care:

  “The greatest lie ... is that health insurance equals health care. ... It is utter BS.” (06:17)

• The Insurance-First Model:
  He argues the ACA entrenched a system where consumers have little price transparency, are forced to buy coverage they may not want, and too often end up paying for both costly premiums and their own care, while insurance companies benefit most.

2. Demand for Consumer Price Transparency

• The Black Friday Analogy:
  Mudd compares current health care shopping to a ludicrous scenario:

  "Imagine ... you go into a store, absolutely no prices anywhere ... they start putting stuff in your cart ... at checkout they say, 'hand over your card now.' ... Then two, three months later, they tell you what you paid." (08:58)

• Frustration and Anger:
  He repeatedly describes the system as “bat crap crazy insane” and a “criminal operation,” emphasizing it's unlike any other market.

3. The Trumpcare Proposal: A Dramatic Overhaul

• Shifting Subsidies to People, Not Insurers:
  Mudd highlights a recent Trump statement:

  “The only health care I will support or approve is sending money directly back to the people with nothing going to the big fat rich insurance companies who have made trillions ripped off America long enough. The people will be allowed to negotiate and buy their own much better insurance. Power to the people in Congress. Do not waste your time and energy on anything else.” (21:26)

• Senator Rick Scott’s Role:
  Mudd mentions having discussed the ongoing Trumpcare legislation with Sen. Rick Scott (20:00, 23:32), emphasizing Scott’s experience as a health care CEO and confidence in the plan’s design.
• How It Would Work:
  • Subsidies currently paid to insurers for exchange plans would instead go into individuals’ health savings accounts (HSAs).
  • Consumers could use these funds to buy only the coverage or care they need, ending federal mandates on what must be included.
  • Insurers would face genuine competition for consumers’ dollars, creating better pricing and transparency.
  • Mudd suggests that, if adopted, private employers could follow suit, giving employees control over contributions that currently go to group insurers (27:00).

4. How Much Could Be Saved?

• Actual Health Care vs. Health Insurance Costs:

  “For every American over the past year, we spent fifteen hundred and fourteen dollars on actual health care needs. ... [But] over $6,000 … for a health insurance plan.” (20:46)

  • Family plans average over $20,000 per year.
  • Mudd calculates that the average person can expect to save anywhere from 30% (for robust coverage) to 70% (for young and healthy) on insurance by shifting to this model (28:30).

5. Comparisons to Other Types of Insurance

Mudd points out people don't use auto or property insurance for regular expenses, only for catastrophic events, and argues health insurance should work the same way for large, unpredictable costs (29:35).

6. Caller Perspectives & Open Dialogue

Several callers offer insights:

Malpractice and Tort Reform

• Bob from Florida claims malpractice insurance is the top cost driver, referencing Rush Limbaugh's argument (32:56).
• Mudd counters:

  “The most recent analysis ... 2.8% of total health care expense is medical malpractice ... We can save between 30 to 70% by [the Trumpcare approach].” (34:00)

The Insurance “Giveaway”

• Jim from Tennessee laments that most people don't realize ACA is run by private insurers, calling it "the biggest giveaway to the insurance industry in 40 years" (35:18).
• Mudd agrees and pays tribute to Rush Limbaugh for his influence and legacy in talk radio (36:49).

Price Transparency and Antitrust Enforcement

• Don from Wisconsin says enforcing antitrust laws and requiring providers to charge everyone the same rate would almost eliminate the need for insurance outside of catastrophic care. He cites the Oklahoma Surgical Center as a successful no-insurance model (37:50).
• Mudd supports this, reiterating price transparency as the root solution (38:31).

7. Closing Thoughts and Political Framing

• Mudd wraps up by reiterating the strong popular and political case for shifting health care funds directly to people, predicting that “good policy is often good politics” (42:46).
• He challenges listeners:

  "If you could have all the money for an Obamacare subsidy provided directly to you in a health savings account as opposed to paying for insurance, would you want it?" (42:46)

• He ends on an optimistic note, urging unity and faith in fixing the system (43:30).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Obamacare’s Effect:

  “One of the greatest corporate welfare projects in American history, if not the absolute largest, was set into motion [by] the ACA.” [04:10]

• On the consumer experience:

  “We as consumers would be bat crap crazy insane forever going down that path in the first place.” [09:38]

• On systemic reform:

  “The key to solving health care affordability challenges is … consumer price transparency.” [08:21]

• On Trumpcare’s promise:

  "You could then have plans that are just for your specific needs, because remember, the Obamacare mandates would go away at this point..." [24:37]

• On political will:

  “Good policy is often good politics. … I can’t imagine a universe in which [Americans] say, you know what? I’d rather that money just go straight to the insurance company.” [42:46]

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Important Timestamps

• 02:58 – Brian Mudd welcomes listeners, begins health care discussion
• 06:17 – "Health insurance equals health care" lie explained
• 08:58 – Black Friday shopping analogy for the broken health care purchasing system
• 15:40-16:54 – Ad break (skip)
• 19:29 – President Trump’s stance on not extending Obamacare subsidies
• 21:26 – Quoting Trump’s recent position on health care reform
• 24:37 – Explanation of how Trumpcare/Scott’s plan would work
• 28:30 – Estimated savings under consumer-directed model
• 32:56 – Bob from Florida: malpractice cost argument
• 34:00 – Brian Mudd counters with malpractice cost statistics
• 35:18 – Jim from Tennessee: ACA as insurance company giveaway
• 37:50 – Don from Wisconsin: calls for antitrust enforcement, cites Oklahoma Surgical Center
• 42:46 – Mudd wraps with political/personal challenge to audience

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Tone and Style

Brian Mudd employs a mix of humor, frustration, and plain-spoken logic, channeling a populist, consumer-focused angle often found on this show. He’s direct, animated, and unafraid to use biting analogies (“bat crap crazy insane”) to emphasize systemic absurdities.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode provides a detailed, fervent critique of America’s insurance-driven health care system, lampoons the false conflation of insurance with care, and offers Trumpcare as a market-driven, consumer-empowering alternative. Through listener calls and real-world analogies, Brian Mudd makes a case for using health savings accounts in place of subsidies to insurers, increasing price transparency, and making coverage genuinely affordable. The show closes with a call for policy rooted in personal and fiscal sense and a message of holiday unity and hope.

Transcript

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[Brian Mudd]

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[Brian Mudd]

Welcome to today's edition of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show podcast. The president's very much involved in these talks and he's very focused on unveiling a health care proposal that will fix the system and will bring down costs for consumers. Oh, say it once again. Mean it. Say it like you mean it. Let it be true. Press Secretary Caroline Levitt as she was talking about Trump care and call whatever you want. Although I do think Trumpcare has a good ring to it. I do think that unlike Obama, he was like, you know, I like Obama. I'm Obama and I care. Remember we said that? I'm Obama and I care. So we embrace the whole Obamacare thing. And so it was and still is the Obama nation. But nevertheless, Trumpcare is something you'd actually want your name on. So this is something that should be branded accordingly. Hey there. Happy Thanksgiving. Hope you and your family, your friends had a fantastic Thanksgiving. I certainly did with my family and friends and this entire holiday season. May God bless you, your family. Thank you for taking a little time with us. Maybe you're doing a little Black Friday shopping. Maybe you're doing it online. However you're doing it, you know, where you could save a heck of a lot of money. I mean, an unreal amount of money. With your health care. With your health care. You want to do some real Black Friday shopping? Holy cow. We can get Trump care. Pass. Every day when it comes to health care will be Black Friday. I'm going to break this thing down and explain. Brian Mudd here for Clay and Buck. I host the Brian Mudd show out of my home station WJNO in West Palm beach, just a few miles from Mar a Lago and El Presidente, where he is right now and also where it is 71 and sunny right now. I'm just saying there's a reason why so many people come here and stay. But you may catch me the Brian Mudd show podcast, wherever you get your podcasts at Brian Mudd Radio, socially talk about how Trumpcare could change everything, absolutely everything. So the fix has been in. The fix on health care has been in since March 23rd of 2010. That is the day that the big O that Barack Obama signed into law, the ACA and all the lies that came along with it obviously was not true that the law made healthcare affordable. And for a while I was like, you know what? We should be able to just overturn the Affordable Care act on legal grounds that it's false advertising. Yeah. I mean, that alone we should be able to just throw the whole dang thing out because the most journal it was not true that if you liked, if you like your doctor, you like your health insurance plan. I know, terrible Obama bucks, amazing at impersonations. I'm terrible. But that's kind of some of the fun. If you're really good at it, that's fun. If you're really bad at it, I guess that could be kind of fun too. So yeah, I mean, the whole thing about if you like your existing health insurance plan, you keep it. If you liked your doctor, still be able to keep seeing him or her stuff, wasn't true. What was true is that one of the greatest corporate welfare projects in American history, if not the absolute largest, was set into motion and along with it, a guarantee that you would have a heck of a lot less healthcare affordability. That is because the not Affordable Care act took the single greatest obstacle to affordable health care. And I'll pause there momentarily. What is, what do you believe is the single greatest obstacle to affordable health care? You have your answer. It's health insurance. The single greatest obstacle to ever having affordable health care is health insurance and the freaking insurance first model. So it took the single greatest obstacle to affordable health care and mandated it into existence where you literally would be taxed, get the tax penalty if you didn't have health insurance. How dare you not? We got to do everything through health insurance. The greatest lie that has been perpetuated every sense ever since this whole thing going all the way back to March of 2010, is that health insurance equals health care. It's one of those things like, I am so not a violent person. I'm not the kind of person who screams and throws things. I'm not. None of that, to the extent that it exists within me, it comes out like when I hear health insurance equals health care or some kind of incarnation. I just want to, I want to throw things because it is utter bs. The fact of the matter is that the average American, the average family, can't afford actual health care because of the insanely high cost of health insurance. It's true with employee sponsored plans. It is especially true of exchange based Obamacare plans too. So we recently had the longest partial government shutdown in American history. Why? Well, because Democrats claimed, hey, we're going to have a health care crisis. It's. It'll be a health care crisis if Covid era Obamacare tax credits that propped up the Unaffordable Care act if those weren't extended, and voting no for the continuing resolution to end the shutdown. Good old Chuck, as Rush would have said. You Schumer said this. This health care crisis is so severe, so urgent, so devastating for families back home that I cannot in good faith support this. Okay, so what is it that he was talking about? What is the health care crisis that good old Chuck you had to speak about? Oh, it was a Obamacare. It was Obamacare. Something that he voted to create, something that was pitched as the Affordable Care Act. It's been such a failure that unless 92% of the cost are paid for by the people who don't actually use those plans, that is a crisis. Okay, so to be clear, unless 92% of the cost for the Obamacare policies are paid for by the people who don't use them, meaning all the rest of us as federal tax paying schlubs, then that is a crisis. And that's because the fix has been in ever since the onset of the aca and the only winners have been the health insurers and those who've been able to exploit the situation and taxpayers. And so this takes us to what needs to be fixed. It's something I've talked about my entire career at this point is going on 28 years. The key to solving health care affordability challenges is what Consumer price transparency. It's Black Friday. You're darn good at finding deals, aren't you? If you know what something costs and you know what it is you're looking for, you are really good at being able to find a good deal, right? The biggest obstacle to price transparency is what it's the current insurance first model. How insane is it? I mean, imagine that you were to go into a store today. You're out doing your Black Friday shopping. You go into a store, absolutely no prices anywhere. You have somebody, you tell somebody up front, hey, these are things that I need. Here's what I've got going on. Here are things I need and they go ahead and they take a cart from you and they take you along with the cart, but then they just start putting stuff in that cart. And then you get to the checkout, that full cart, and they say, okay, go ahead and hand over your credit card now. And you're looking at them wondering if you needed everything that was in your cart, and you have a question or two about what stuff costs are you going to hand over that car. No. Okay. And then when they run it, they say, oh, and by the way, yeah, maybe two, three months from now, we're going to tell you how much you're actually paying for this. What would you tell that person? You would tell them they're bat crap crazy insane because what. Guess what? That person would be bat crap crazy insane. And we as consumers would be bat crap crazy insane forever going down that path in the first place. Right? It's nuts. Nobody in their right mind would ever shop like that. But we do. Every single day because we have been conditioned. The people are talking about health care is broken. It's not for. No, it's stupid. It really is a criminal operation. The way it's run it is angered me my entire life. It goes against every sensibility that exists. It is bad crap crazy insane that you walk into a health care facility and you're presented with a piece of paper as a lot of words on it. That amounts to something along the lines of you have no idea what's going to happen. Even if you think you do, when you get back here, we can't tell you what any of the stuff back here that you are unaware of that might take place is going to cost. But whatever your insurance company doesn't pay for all this, you've got it. And we've been conditioned to do that. We sign, we do the cart store example every single day in this country. Now, you think we're getting a good deal or do you think we get screwed six ways to Sunday? First by most medical service providers, ultimately by the health insurance companies too. Who gets served by this? Not you. Not the person trying to get actual health care services. What's better than that is how often do you even get the benefit of the health insurance these days, since the average health insurance policy is a high deductible plan, you go through all that and you still never end up hitting the deductible. Which means you pay for your unaffordable health insurance and then you pay for the actual health care service that you get too. You get nothing. The health care service provider that gets to game the insurance system wins. The health insurance company wins all day long. You, not so much. You're left holding the bag. And the best part is you're not just left holding the bag for you, but you're left holding the bag to pay for all those Obamacare policies too. Because remember, it's a health care crisis unless 92% of the costs associated with those plans are paid for by you. That's fun. That is absolutely just fantastic. Right? So let me tell you about how all this comes together and why Trumpcare is actually the thing that I have been lobbying for for decades that can truly fix this situation, bring insanity to an end, sanity back into the healthcare system and actual affordability in the process. Brian Mudd in for Klein Buck.

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[Brian Mudd]

Somebody said I want to extend it for two years. I don't want to extend it.

[Buck Sexton]

I'd rather not extend them at all.

[Brian Mudd]

And President Trump talking about not wanting to extend the Obamacare subsidies at all. There should be absolutely no extension of Obamacare subsidies at all. Brian Mudd in for Clay and Buck and so talking about the absurdity of the existing health care system. Now I want to boil down how we fix it as the Trump care legislation is being written and the person that is taking the lead on it, Senator Rick Scott and I've had extensive discussions with him and an assurance that is kind of faith restoring as well. So we'll talk about that in a moment. I want to walk you through how much can be saved by getting away from the insurance first model where there's no consumer price transparency. Even if you never end up reaching your high deductible for your insurance policy, you end up not seeing what stuff is going to cost. And so what could we actually save? What could we actually save? So how much do you think you and your family use during the course of a year in actual health care? Like if you added up all the costs of stuff that is just specifically healthcare service related, how much is that have any idea in mind? For every American over the past year, we spent fifteen hundred and fourteen dollars on actual health care needs. Okay, fifteen, fourteen dollars on actual health care per person. So you can do the math based upon how many people in your family, how much of that actually goes towards health care, though? Well, do you know what the average cost for the average American for a health insurance plan has been over the past year? It'll run you in the neighborhood of over $6,000. Over $6,000. So how much of that money ends up going straight into the pockets of insurance companies? It's kind of a good question to ask, especially if, let's say, for example, on your policy that on average would run you per person, family plans end up being an average of over $20,000. These days, if you end up, you're greater than $6000 health insurance plan, so you're 1500 actual that's actually spent on health care that hit your high deductible. So what ends up happening is you pay for the price of that health insurance policy. You pay for that health insurance $1,500 in health care too. And this is where you begin to think about it for a moment. So 1,500 bucks for health care per person, per year. That is actually affordable. That, that is very affordable for the average person, average family, over $6,000 for health insurance before you receive any health care at all. That is the jumping off point for what makes health care an unaffordable message. So President Trump's plan, and it kicked off with the Post recently, he said, the only health care I will support or approve is sending money directly back to the people with nothing going to the big fat rich insurance companies who have made trillions ripped off America long enough. The people will be allowed to negotiate and buy their own much better insurance. Power to the people in Congress. Do not waste your time and energy on anything else. This is the only way to have great health care in America. So he is absolutely right about this. And most importantly, Senator Rick Scott, who's authoring this, is drawing it up just that way. So what will this look like? What could it mean to you? The answer is huge, and I'll break that down for you coming up next. It has been an honor and a pleasure being here with you this Thanksgiving weekend. Brian mudd in for Clay and Buck.

[Buck Sexton]

The other young man is fighting for his life.

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[Brian Mudd]

He's fighting for his life and hopefully.

[Buck Sexton]

We'Ll get better news with respect to him.

[Brian Mudd]

Hey, man, President Trump Talking about Andrew Wolf, the second guardsman shot on Wednesday, the terror attack in D.C. we talked extensively about that in the first hour into the the second as well. Been talking about health care and Trumpcare specifically and the real solution for health, affordable health care in this country. Brian Mudd in for Clay and Bach. It has been a pleasure being here with you. So now I want to work through specifically what is being drafted and what it would mean to you. So the first thing about what is being drafted here is that health savings accounts effectively would be used as the mechanism for ACA subsidies to be paid into. So right now you have the amount of subsidy that is going to be paid. So people win. And this is with subsidies extended in real time and open enrollment. This may not necessarily apply because, well, that's all part of what is still being debated in Washington. But speaking typically, what we've seen since the onset of Obamacare is you go to the exchange, you're going to end up finding a policy and you'll see based upon your circumstances, what your subsidy is going to be. And that becomes the mechanism by which one will often shop for insurance there. And the net of it all is that 92% the cost has most recently and since COVID ended up being eaten by all the other taxpayers who don't use those exchange based policies. So what Trumpcare would do, what we're talking about from a health care standpoint is whatever that amount is that would be used for a subsidy for that person purchasing insurance on the exchange or for a family that's doing it, that would go into a health savings account form. And then they could choose do I want to buy health insurance or do I just want to use this money for health care services? And then if I want to buy insurance, what would that look like? And so you could then have plans that are just for your specific needs, because remember, the Obamacare mandates would go away at this point, so you wouldn't have to be paying for contraception as a man, for example, among other things and all the other nonsense, because that's all part of the insurance racket is you have all these things that you're mandated to pay for even if there's no biological chance it would ever be relevant to you. So then you, you take a look at the potential impact of all of this. So I'm going to walk through a couple different avenues. The first is, okay, so now you have insurance companies are going to have to get competitive over these consumers of the health insurance products. So that will end up having a profound impact within the insurance industry itself. But what is it also going to do in the health care industry? Because you're going to have a lot of people that are just shopping for health care services. It's going to make the medical service industry become price competitive and transparent as well, because they're going to want the money that's available. One of the more profound things that I was talking to Senator Scott about taking the first step in doing this with the Obamacare subsidies, and he's a former health care CEO, he believes that if we get this done with the Affordable Care act policies, with the exchange based policies, that you're going to have private employers that follow suit. So to give you an idea, in 2025, the average private employer is paying about 7,800 bucks towards an employee's health insurance plan. That jumps to over $20,000 for the average family plan. So imagine if rather than your company kicking 7,800 to 20,000 bucks over to your insurance company, that money went into your health savings account in addition to the money that you pay out of pocket, your piece of that employer sponsored plan. Imagine if you had all that money and then imagine if you could buy just the health care that you need. In doing an analysis on this, let's say that you were to go for a really high end plan that would cover most likely your needs. Again, I'm talking about typical person. You're talking about a savings that would likely be in the neighborhood of 30% over what that insurance plan currently cost. Let's say that you're young and healthy and you want to buy insurance. You're probably talking about a savings that is closer to 70% on the health insurance plan. Again if you choose to pay for it. And then when you actually do go to pay for health care services, you have a much better chance of actually knowing what the heck it is that something is going to cost. Now again, there are differences here, right? You have emergencies obviously we're not worried about in an emergency situation. Hey, how much is this going to cost in like certain circumstances, right? So this is where catastrophic care comes into play. I talked about the bat crap crazy analogy of doing your Black Friday shopping, heading into a store, having your cart taken over by an employee who greets you when you walk in. And then they walk, you walk around with them through the store saying, hey, here's what I've got going on. And they decide what's going to go in your cart. And then you get to the checkout and they demand your credit card and you give it to them and they tell you that you're not going to know what you're actually going to be paying for anything in that cart that they filled until maybe two, three months later. And then you just sign and go, okay, that's great. We would never do such a thing. Well, the other part of that comes into play when you're talking about the use of insurance. There's no reason that health insurance can principally be used as every other major insurance product that's out there. If you have, I don't know, a battery that goes bad in your car, what do you do? You go buy a new battery and if you're handy, you put it in yourself. If not, you go to a mechanic and you pay them to do it. Your battery doesn't go bad and you file an auto insurance claim, right? That would be nuts. So your house, you have one of your doors in your house that falls off the hinge. If you're handy, you go get a new hinge and you put that thing back up there. If you're not, you get a handyman, they come back in and they take care of your door. You don't file a property insurance claim. That would be bad. Crap. Crazy. And so this is how healthcare could be used. Health insurance could be used for actual health care. You have an emergency, you have something where it's going to be a big deal, catastrophic kind of coverage. Now you got the health insurance that you've purchased at a significant savings for that. For everything else, we are transacting the way that we do with every other product in life. And by the way, when you take a look at the impact of us being good consumers, when you take a look at being able to buy the health insurance that you actually need based upon your situation, not what's mandated by the federal government. When you have all this money in your health care savings account that can be used for healthcare, what do you think the outcomes are going to be from a patient? In a health standpoint, you think they're going to be better? The average person doesn't hit their high deductible plan in a given year anyway. So people often, even with health insurance, are not getting the health care services they need because the money goes to the health insurance companies, not to them. So now you'd actually be able to pay for your health care. We have a healthier country, we have more people obtaining more of the health care that they need, generally long term outcomes. And the only losers in this deal are the medical service providers that have been gaming the system and taking advantage of it and the health insurance companies that have been the single biggest winners of all. And by the way, for the honest medical service providers out there, how much money do would you save? How much money would fall to the bottom line if you didn't have to have like a whole department that is just set up to try to decipher the insurance claims and the headache and the mess going back and forth with an insurance company over a situation, how many people wouldn't have to do that anymore? How much money could be saved in that process? And so there is no downside to this. Again, unless you're part of the fix, unless you're on the receiving end, for the average American, the impact is absolutely profound. See? Let's go to Bob. We'll start with Bob in Florida. Bob, welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Hi there. Thank you for having me.

[Brian Mudd]

You bet.

[Caller]

I deeply sympathize with all the arguments you've been putting out, but I think you missed on the primary point. Health insurance is probably the number two issue with the cost of health care, and I'll tell you why. Rush Limbaugh pointed out about 10 years ago that half of all money that goes to doctors and hospitals is actually going to malpractice insurance. And the tort lawyers pocket a significant amount of that in massive legal payouts to frivolous lawsuits that never should have happened in the first place. To reform the tort system, you have to fight all those lawyers and put in hard limits on how much is paid out in malpractice. But you also have to put a clause that the loser has a mandatory responsibility to pay for all legal fees. That'll reduce the number of malpractice lawsuits by roughly 70%.

[Brian Mudd]

So you're right.

[Caller]

Way, way, way down.

[Brian Mudd]

It actually won't. You're right, but it won't. And so I've got information on that, too. And so a couple things about this. You're right that medical malpractice is a problem. The first thing is it's not as bad as it used to be. And that is because you have had a lot of states that have taken action to curb malpractice. Not, not all, but you have had many, including some big states. Even California has curbed medical malpractice, believe it or not, in recent years. And so malpractice, is it a problem? Yeah. How much does it actually cost in terms of what you're paying for healthcare? The Most recent analysis, 2024 analysis heading into this year by MED PLI 2.8%, 2.8% of total health care expense is medical malpractice. So we can save between 30 to 70% by doing precisely what I'm talking about. The president is advocating for Senator Rick Scott is putting pen to paper on. And we could save an additional 2.8% if we totally solve the medical malpractice piece, too. So does it factor in? Yes. Is that the crux of the issue? Not by a long shot. Let's go to Jim. Jim in Tennessee. Welcome to the show.

[Caller]

Good afternoon, Brian. Great to talk to you.

[Brian Mudd]

Appreciate him.

[Caller]

It's a little bit of a bittersweet call. I I reached your call screener on actually my first call. Great guy, by the way. Very professional. But I looked at my phone and, you know the contact name that comes up when you dial the number said Rush Limbaugh. And it was from back in the day when I had Rush's number on here. So this is a call for the Great One. The what bothers me most about Obamacare, besides the lies that we were told when it was passed, is the fact that even to this day, I would wager that the vast majority of people out there do not even realize that this is administered by private insurance companies. I think most of them believe that it's just another government handout like Medicare. My wife got in a knockdown drag out with her leftist siblings recently when all of the discussion was on about reducing the subsidies. And they simply didn't realize that this is the insurance companies. And this was the biggest giveaway to the insurance industry in the last 40 years. And I worked in the insurance industry.

[Brian Mudd]

Jim, I appreciate the call. You're right on point. And thank you for having been so loyal, obviously, during a very long window of time. And I'll tell you on that particular note, there is I'm a Rush baby. You know, Rush Limbaugh is not only the reason that I do this to this day, but it's the reason that talk radio exists and that AM radio often still exists and all the other digital outlets that we have today with all of the content that is provided. So we all in this industry owe everything to Rush Limbaugh. And it's the one time I've been super emotional on air. The one time that I could not hold back was the day I went on the air after, after we lost one of the most remarkable human beings this planet has ever seen. So I hear you. I hear you. Let's go to Don in Wisconsin real quick. Don't. Hey, do we have you? Don.

[Caller]

The fact of the matter is if they would just enforce the antitrust laws that are on the books and force these medical providers to charge everybody the same price insurance or not, there would no longer be a need for medical insurance for the most part for most people other than catastrophic care. An example and I don't know if this model is still functioning in Oklahoma, but the Oklahoma Surgical center did not accept insurance whatsoever and you could get a knee replacement down there for 80% less than you would pay with normal insurance in the normal market that we're dealing with.

[Brian Mudd]

Great, great call. Thank you for being there.

[Caller]

That are already on the book.

[Brian Mudd]

Appreciate it. And getting away from the insurance first model consumer price transparency, not being forced into buying buying insurance that we don't need, being able to use the actual money for health care rather than purchasing health insurance. All these things would solve the problem. I'm Brian Mudd in for Clay and Bug.

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[Buck Sexton]

Time of year that Birch Gold Group gives away free gold with every qualifying purchase. That's right for Black Friday. When you convert an existing IRA or 401k into a tax sheltered IRA in gold, birchgold will send free gold to your home for every $20,000 purchased. The price of gold started this year around $2,600 an ounce. By October it was over $4,000 an ounce. Why Global Uncertainty 2025 has been defined by trade wars, central banks pulling away from the US Dollar as the global reserve currency, and military tension still continuing to build. Gold thrives in times of uncertainty. That's why I bought more this year. And if you're looking to diversify your savings, Birch Gold can help you. Plus now through November 28th, get free gold with a qualifying purchase. Just Text my name Buck to 989898 to claim your eligibility and for a free info kit on Gold. But Your opportunity for free gold with purchase ends on November 28th, so don't wait. Text Buck to the number 989898 for full details.

[Brian Mudd]

Hey, I'm Clay Travis.

[Buck Sexton]

And I'm Buck Sexton. You know what we're thankful for this year?

[Caller]

All of you?

[Brian Mudd]

That's right. We have the best radio audience in the country, hands down.

[Buck Sexton]

Sending a big warm and happy Thanksgiving from the Clay and Buck Show.

[Brian Mudd]

Today more than ever we need people who will promote dialogue and practice it with firm will and patient resolve. Papillo is part of his Thanksgiving message. Happy Thanksgiving weekend to you and your family this Black Friday. Brian Mudd in for Clay and Buck and the great uniter I talked about in the second hour, President Trump. You want to talk about dialogue? Unprecedented peace the man's brought about. We could be talking about a Russia, Ukraine. Most recently though talking about health care. And here's the final point I would mention to you as I've been talking about Trump Care being the fix. If you could have all the money for an Obamacare subsidy provided directly to you in a health savings account as opposed to paying for insurance, would you want it? If you have an employer sponsored plan, would you rather that seven to twenty thousand dollars going to a health savings care account that you have control over, or would you rather going to the insurance company? And the point is this. It's not just a fix. It's good politics. Good policy is often good politics. And I can't imagine a universe in which the President, United States representatives in Congress present this to the American people where you're going to say, you know what? I'd rather that money just go straight to the insurance company. I'm happy with this insurance first model. Everything's great. I don't want to save 30 to 70% on my health care. No status quo is a good thing. So I leave you with that thought. We can fix this thing. God bless you and your family. Brian Ludden proclaimed. Buzz on the front lines of Truth. Shh.

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