Sen. Bill Cassidy to Newsmax: Healthcare Customer Accounts 'Common Sense'

Empowering healthcare customers to seek the best insurance deals is common sense, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., told Newsmax on Monday.

Appearing on "Wake Up America," Cassidy highlighted his effort to return healthcare power to American patients rather than insurance companies.

The chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee laid out his plan to shift billions in expiring Obamacare COVID-era tax credits directly to consumers rather than to big insurance companies.

Currently, insurers are permitted to keep roughly 20% of those federal subsidies as profit and overhead.

"As a doctor, I learned that if you give the power to the patient, good things happen," Cassidy told co-hosts Marc Lotter and Alison Maloni. "Instead of giving the money to the insurance companies for profit, if we give it to the patient for patient care, a lot of good things happen."

He argued consumers would naturally shop for better, cheaper plans, lowering premiums and deductibles — "a sweet spot" Republicans could unite around.

With the enhanced subsidies set to expire in a month, Cassidy acknowledged Congress might need a short-term extension but insisted a workable framework already exists by expanding the model of health savings accounts paired with lower-cost private plans.

"Common sense can reign," he said.

Cassidy also pushed back on Democrats' claims of "war crimes" surrounding a U.S. airstrike on Venezuelan drug-running boats, and addressed his investigation into blue states defying President Donald Trump's executive order protecting women's sports.

Cassidy criticized Democrats for rushing to judgment after The Washington Post reported allegations that a second U.S. strike targeted survivors on a Venezuelan vessel.

Democrats immediately branded it a "war crime," despite acknowledging the underlying facts remain unverified.

"It's a way to undermine what the president is trying to do," Cassidy said, noting Trump's effort to choke off narcotrafficking routes flowing from Venezuela into the U.S.

He emphasized that Republicans support a full, fair investigation, led by Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., but warned Democrats are already using the incident as a political weapon.

"You have to wait to see if it is true before you start making allegations," he said.

Cassidy also updated viewers on his investigation into 18 Democrat-run states for possible noncompliance with Trump's executive order banning men from competing in women's sports.

"No one should think it's fair to a young lady that she has a man competing against her," Cassidy said, warning that allowing biological males into female categories "turns Title IX on its head."

The senator said many blue states are openly ignoring Trump's directive, and he intends to expose the scope of the problem.

"Let's highlight it," he said, adding he cannot believe women in those states consider such policies fair.

Cassidy pointed to recent high-profile examples, including a "Strongest Woman" competition that crowned a biological male before being forced to strip the title.

"It's not fair," he said. "We should give every young lady the opportunity to be a champion."

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