Propping up the corporate health insurance industry isn’t cheap or painless, but for Democrats in Washington, it’s the only way.

Instead of enacting a universal Medicare for All health care system that would save the United States and its citizens hundreds of billions of dollars annually, temporarily expanding Medicare, or championing a promised “public option,” Democrats are rallying behind a health care proposal that will funnel tens of billions of dollars to corporate health insurance companies, even as they are already experiencing record profits and jacking up premiums, while continuing to deny claims.

Democrats’ current plan will lower people’s premiums, but only on a temporary basis. It will also not stop insurers from passing on huge out-of-pocket costs to enrollees if they need medical care, nor does it improve the quality of people’s health insurance. Indeed, it will push people onto state exchanges, where one in six in-network medical claims were denied in 2019.