Michelle Martin (2:32)

Is here to explain. Good morning, Selena.

Selena Simmons-Duffin (2:34)

Morning, Michelle.

Michelle Martin (2:35)

So start us off with some quick background about the issue here, if you would.

Selena Simmons-Duffin (2:38)

Yeah. So these are health insurance plans that individuals can go and buy if they don't get health benefits at work. So we're talking about small business owners and workers, farmers, ranchers, entrepreneurs. 24 million people were enrolled in these Obamacare plans this year. And almost all of them got these generous federal subsidies that came in during the pandemic to help keep their premium costs really affordable, like $10 a month. For many people, those enhanced subsidies expire in a matter of weeks. So many people are looking at way higher premium costs. On average, premium costs will double, but for some people, it'll be even higher than that.

Michelle Martin (3:17)

And when you say higher than that, what does that look? Yeah.

Selena Simmons-Duffin (3:20)

So I want you to meet Ellen Allen of Charleston, West Virginia. I talked to her first over the summer. She's 64 years old and was expecting her $500 a month plan to go up dramatically. She was raiding her retirement savings to prepare for that increase. And when I reached her yesterday, she told me she'd enrolled in a plan.

Ellen Allen (3:40)

The bronze plan without vision and dental, with a monthly premium of $1,967.50.

Selena Simmons-Duffin (3:49)

So her premium for 2026 is four times this year's premium. Nearly $1,500 more every single month for a plan that covers less.

Michelle Martin (3:59)

So Ellen Allen is going to be paying that unless Congress steps in and changes the law. What could that look like?

Selena Simmons-Duffin (4:06)

Senate Democrats are expected to vote on a bill today that would extend the enhanced subsidies for three years. So that would bring premium costs down to about where they were this past year. The bill would also extend open enrollment until May of next year and do several other allowing automatic renewals and renewing funding for people who help you sign up for coverage. Republicans don't like this plan. They say it's too expensive, it's driving health costs up, and they point to reports of fraud to say the whole system is flawed.

Michelle Martin (4:35)

Well, but it seems like the Republicans took a while to coalesce around an alternative. Eventually they did, at least on the Senate side. So what's their idea?

Selena Simmons-Duffin (4:42)

Yeah, so it would not address those rising premium costs directly. It would instead put taxpayer dollars into health savings accounts for some enrollees and $1,000 for people under age 50 and 1,500 for people between 50 and 64. That money could not go towards premiums, but it could go to other kinds of health expenses like co pays or over the counter medications. The bill would also prohibit abortion coverage in Obamacare and prevent Medicaid from covering gender affirming care. I asked Ellen Allen what she thought of the Republican health savings account, and this is what she said.

Ellen Allen (5:16)

A thousand or fifteen hundred dollars. And I mean, I understand that's not a monthly correct? Yeah, that's nothing. That is, that's insulting. And how stupid do they think the American people are?

Michelle Martin (5:27)

Okay, that plan does seem to fit with what President Trump has said he wants, though. Sending money to people but not the insurance companies.

Selena Simmons-Duffin (5:34)

True, but Republicans would be putting way less taxpayer money into it. About $10 billion into health savings accounts versus approximately 35 billion towards enhanced subsidies. So it's not just a different delivery system, it's also a big funding cut.

Michelle Martin (5:49)

What are you expecting to happen today?

Selena Simmons-Duffin (5:51)

Well, there is a super small Republican majority in the Senate, and these bills would need 60 votes to pass. Neither side is likely to reach that threshold, which is not good for people who are navigating open enrollment right now. And we're hoping for some relief. Polling suggests these enhanced subsidies are quite popular across party lines, so Congress may keep working on this. I do not think that these votes today are going to be the end of the story.

Michelle Martin (6:15)

That is NPR Selena Simmons stuff. And Selena, thank you.

Selena Simmons-Duffin (6:18)

You're welcome.

Steve Inskeep (6:26)

It's getting a little cheaper to borrow money.

Michelle Martin (6:29)

The Federal Reserve voted to cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point, a decision the Fed chairman described as a close call. And there was unusual disagreement among Fed policymakers. Investors were relieved by the move. The Dow Jones Industrial average jumped nearly 500 points.

Steve Inskeep (6:45)

NPR's Scott Horsley jumped into action to cover this story. Scott, good morning.

Scott Horsley (6:49)

Good morning, Steve.

Steve Inskeep (6:50)

What was the dissent?

Scott Horsley (6:52)

Well, there were three dissents from the Fed's vote to cut rates by a quarter point. Two of those dissenters wanted to hold rates steady, and a third wanted to cut rates even more. You know, the Fed is kind of in a tough spot here. Cutting rates is designed to help the job market, which has shown signs of weakness in recent months. But inflation is still higher than the central bank would like to. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell says all of his colleagues want maximum employment and stable prices, but they have differing views on which is the more urgent challenge right now.

Jerome Powell (7:22)

All across the committee, people see the picture pretty similarly, but see the risks quite differently.

Scott Horsley (7:28)

You know, when unemployment soared during the pandemic, it was pretty obvious the Fed wanted really low interest rates. And when inflation soared back in 2022, it was pretty obvious that interest rates needed to be higher. Today, it's more nuanced and the right course of action is not so obvious. And that's reflected in yesterday's split vote.

Steve Inskeep (7:45)

In the end, a solid majority did vote to cut interest rates one more time. Are they going to cut interest rates yet again?

Scott Horsley (7:53)

Well, probably not right away. Fed policymakers offered some updated forecast of where they think rates are headed. And on average. They only expect to cut rates once more in 2026. Now, those forecasts are just a guess. They're not a roadmap. But Powell says he and his colleagues are going to be pretty cautious about lowering rates anymore.

Jerome Powell (8:12)

We haven't made any decision about January, but as I've said, we think we're well positioned to wait and see how the economy performs.

Scott Horsley (8:20)

We are going to get a whole lot more information about both inflation and unemployment before the next Fed meeting in January. And that's something we have been really starved for in the last couple of months. You know, because of the government shutdown, we never got those numbers for October. And the November numbers have been delayed until next week. So the next time Powell and his colleagues gather, we may have a clearer picture of which way the economy is headed.

Steve Inskeep (8:44)

Scott I want to ask about the bigger picture here because over the last several years we've had this problem with inflation. It still hasn't gone away. People are concerned about the cost of living because their purchasing power effectively has gone down 20, 25% over the last several years. Isn't the Fed concerned that lowering interest rates will bring inflation back up again?

Scott Horsley (9:05)

If Powell was asked why he and his colleagues seem to be focused on the job market right now when there's so much concern about high prices. Even though inflation has come down a lot, it is still above the Fed's 2% target. And part of that's because the president's tariffs are pushing up the price of imported goods. Now, Fed officials generally don't think tariffs are going to have a long lasting effect on inflation, but they've been burned before. So Powell says they're not taking any chances.

Jerome Powell (9:29)

We hear loud and clear how people are experiencing costs. It's really high costs and a lot of that is not the current rate of inflation. A lot of that is just embedded higher cost due to higher inflation in 20, 22 and 23.

Scott Horsley (9:45)

Once prices go up, they rarely come back down. But if you're lucky, rising wages outpace those price hikes. Powell says the best way to help with affordability is not only to get inflation down, but also to make sure we have a really strong job market.

Steve Inskeep (9:58)

NPR, Scott Horsley, thanks so much.

Scott Horsley (10:00)

You're welcome.

Steve Inskeep (10:07)

President Trump was the first to say that the US Military seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.

Michelle Martin (10:13)

Attorney General Pam Bondi released a 45 second video showing what appear to be US forces and the Coast Guard rappelling from a helicopter onto the tanker. There's been a US Military buildup near Venezuela in recent weeks as Congress pushes for answers about US strikes on alleged drug boats and specifically a September 2nd incident when the US military killed two men who survived an initial round of strikes.

Steve Inskeep (10:35)

So much to talk about. So we have called Steve Walsh, who covers the military for WHRO in Norfolk, Virginia. Steve, good morning.

Steve Walsh (10:42)

Morning, Steve.

Steve Inskeep (10:43)

Why did the administration seize this oil tanker?

Steve Walsh (10:46)

Well, the details are just coming in. But after the president confirmed the seizure, Justice Department head Pam Bondi posted on social media that it was an oil tanker US Authorities had been watching and that it was used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. This could be a ratcheting up of not just military, but economic pressure on Venezuela and its president, Nicolas Maduro.

Steve Inskeep (11:08)

I want to clarify the law here. Venezuela has already called this piracy. President Trump was asked, what are you going to do with the oil? He said, I guess we'll keep it. The US Just took the oil. Is there some legal basis for this?

Steve Walsh (11:21)

Well, there is a court order to do this. So this may not be part of a larger effort to seize, like, all the oil coming out of Venezuela.

Steve Inskeep (11:29)

Okay, so we'll continue following that aspect of this. Now, I want to ask about the broader U.S. military campaign in the Caribbean. Admiral Alvin Halsey, who had been overseeing the Venezuela boat strikes, is stepping down this week. How important is that?

Steve Walsh (11:44)

Well, we still have not heard a lot publicly about why Admiral Halsey is leaving. It's an incredibly unusual move for a top commander to leave one year into what is typically a three year assignment. Halsey oversees Southern Command, which includes any military operation around South America. There had been some media accounts that Halsey had a run in with Secretary of Defense Pete Hagseth. But again, Halsey is not commenting and NPR has not confirmed that he submitted his resignation about a month after the first deadly strike in September against a boat in the Caribbean that killed four people, which the Trump administration claims was carrying drugs.

Steve Inskeep (12:22)

Right.

Steve Walsh (12:22)

Keep in mind, this operation started out as an effort to go after migrants using traditional means like Navy destroyers paired with Coast Guard law enforcement team. I talked with a friend of Halsey. Retired Rear Admiral Sinclair Harris hasn't spoken to Halsey since he announced he was resigning, but he says the man nicknamed Bull would not have acted out of emotion.

Retired Rear Admiral Sinclair Harris (12:43)

Bull always evaluates everything based on his beliefs, his beliefs in his country, what the Constitution says, what his responsibilities are to higher authority, to the forces that are under him. Think all those things are probably part of what factored into whatever decision he made.

Steve Walsh (13:06)

Halsey did appear before lawmakers this week to try to address concerns over the ongoing boat strikes, but that was behind closed doors. We don't know what was said, but reports hint that Halsey was at least diplomatic.

Steve Inskeep (13:19)

Okay, so what happens now?

Steve Walsh (13:21)

So, well, the fact remains that no top US Military official has really addressed lawmakers concerns. They're still demanding both the video of that September 2 strike and the legal rationale the administration says that it is used to carry out 22 strikes against alleged drug boats that have killed 87 people. And as for Halsey, he's officially stepping down in a change of command ceremony slated for Friday at Southcom headquarters in Florida.

Steve Inskeep (13:49)

WHRO's Steve Walsh in Norfolk, thanks so much.

Steve Walsh (13:52)

Thanks, Steve.

Steve Inskeep (13:57)

And that's up first for this Thursday, December 11th. I'm Steve Inskeep.

Michelle Martin (14:01)

And I'm Michelle Martin. For your next listen, why not consider Consider this from npr. Here at up first, we give you three big Stories of the Day. Our Consider this colleagues take a different approach. They dive into a single news story and what it means to you. Learn about a big Story of the Day in less than 15 minutes. Listen now on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcast.

Steve Inskeep (14:21)

Today's up first was edited by Diane Weber, Rafael Nam, Andrew Sussman and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Bach, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Our deputy executive producer is Kelly Dickens. Join us tomorrow.

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