Rep. Roy to Stephen A. Smith: The American people do not want more health care going to illegal aliens
October 17, 2025
Washington, D.C. — Rep. Chip Roy (TX-21) joined Stephen A. Smith on SiriusXM's Straight Shooter to discuss the government shutdown, emphasizing his opposition to extended healthcare subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.
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On Government Shutdown and Healthcare Subsidies:
"We passed a bill that will keep the government funded, and it's a clean bill. It is basically extending Biden's funding through November 20. That is something Democrats have always supported. In fact, they voted for it 13... So they're the ones that are actually blocking funding.
There are a bunch of subsidies that were put in place during COVID and they are enhanced subsidies. That is, they go over the 400% of the poverty level that were originally put in place for healthcare, and they extend those subsidies in a way that go to people making $500,000 and $600,000, and they would cost taxpayers $400 billion. More importantly, in my view, that's $40 billion a year going almost entirely into the hip pockets of insurance companies, insurance companies that are minting money on the back of families who can't afford to choose the doctor of their choice or avoid it, afford insurance or get the health care that they want. And that's the problem. The insurance companies in the health care industry spends three quarters of a billion dollars on lobbying. That's six times more than the defense industry. That's what's really going on.
$25,000 a year we currently spend on health insurance to be told we can't go to the doctor we want to go to, for insurance companies to tell us what care that we're not going to get, what medicines we can't get, and what doctors we can't go to."
On Democrats pulling political stunts:
"I think this is a political play to try to get leverage... They want to change the conversation from all the stuff that we're doing to make the country better."
On Government Funding:
"We've literally funded the government. We sent you a bill at the Biden levels. We didn't change them. It's the Biden funding level, and we sent it over to the Senate, and you're rejecting that... The American people do not want more health care going to illegal aliens. The American people do not want insurance companies to get rich."
On Impact of Obamacare
"The average family of four is paying $25,000 a year between their employer and themselves to get an insurance product where they tell them that they can't go to a certain doctor, can't get coverage, and can't get care. That's not coverage.
The only insurance I can get as a member of Congress is Obamacare. People don't know that... I had cancer in 2011 and I went to MD Anderson in Houston. It's one of the best cancer hospitals in the world. Guess what? I can't go there now. MD Anderson is no longer on the Obamacare plan. That's a problem. We're not giving people real solutions. We got to stop pretending that the current system is working. It's not."
"We passed a bill that will keep the government funded, and it's a clean bill. It is basically extending Biden's funding through November 20. That is something Democrats have always supported. In fact, they voted for it 13... So they're the ones that are actually blocking funding.
There are a bunch of subsidies that were put in place during COVID and they are enhanced subsidies. That is, they go over the 400% of the poverty level that were originally put in place for healthcare, and they extend those subsidies in a way that go to people making $500,000 and $600,000, and they would cost taxpayers $400 billion. More importantly, in my view, that's $40 billion a year going almost entirely into the hip pockets of insurance companies, insurance companies that are minting money on the back of families who can't afford to choose the doctor of their choice or avoid it, afford insurance or get the health care that they want. And that's the problem. The insurance companies in the health care industry spends three quarters of a billion dollars on lobbying. That's six times more than the defense industry. That's what's really going on.
$25,000 a year we currently spend on health insurance to be told we can't go to the doctor we want to go to, for insurance companies to tell us what care that we're not going to get, what medicines we can't get, and what doctors we can't go to."
On Democrats pulling political stunts:
"I think this is a political play to try to get leverage... They want to change the conversation from all the stuff that we're doing to make the country better."
On Government Funding:
"We've literally funded the government. We sent you a bill at the Biden levels. We didn't change them. It's the Biden funding level, and we sent it over to the Senate, and you're rejecting that... The American people do not want more health care going to illegal aliens. The American people do not want insurance companies to get rich."
On Impact of Obamacare
"The average family of four is paying $25,000 a year between their employer and themselves to get an insurance product where they tell them that they can't go to a certain doctor, can't get coverage, and can't get care. That's not coverage.
The only insurance I can get as a member of Congress is Obamacare. People don't know that... I had cancer in 2011 and I went to MD Anderson in Houston. It's one of the best cancer hospitals in the world. Guess what? I can't go there now. MD Anderson is no longer on the Obamacare plan. That's a problem. We're not giving people real solutions. We got to stop pretending that the current system is working. It's not."