Plain Talk: 'Somebody has to lose, and nobody wants to lose'

MINOT — "I'm optimistic that they're going to do it," North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread said on this episode of Plain Talk, referring to Congress approving an extension to enhanced subsidies for health insurance policies sold on the individual marketplace exchanges. "I'm hopeful that they do it, because I think it's the right thing to do."

The subsidies are central to the ongoing shutdown of the federal government, with Democrats refusing to reopen the government without a deal to extend them, and Republicans saying they'll only cut a deal like that once the government is open again.

Godfread, whose office approved new rates for the current open enrollment plan last week based on the assumption that the subsidies will be continued, has warned that without them, millions of