David Axelrod, a CNN political commentator and former aide to President Barack Obama, was criticized Wednesday over a social media post about a couple in Wisconsin that had to scrap plans to expand their business due to surging Obamacare premiums.

“Through family, I heard about a couple in WI who started a small business and were planning to expand. Now, with their ACA premiums TRIPLED due to congressional inaction, they’ve had to scrap plans to expand & grow. I’m sure that scenario is repeating itself all over the U.S.,” Axelrod wrote.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, was signed into law in 2010 by Obama.

SENATE MULLS NEXT STEPS AFTER DUELING OBAMACARE FIXES GO UP IN FLAMES

David Axelrod speaks on stage during the “Election 2024” panel for The Atlantic Festival on Sept. 20, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Morigi/Getty Images for The Atlantic)

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., wrote, “If only we knew whose signature legislation this was….”

The U.S. entered into a government shutdown on Oct. 1 when Democrats refused to advance spending legislation unless Congress renewed expiring COVID-19-era Obamacare subsidies. However, after weeks of stalled talks, a handful of Senate Democrats voted to reopen the government without securing any extension to the enhanced assistance.

Those subsidies expired at the end of 2025, returning millions of Obamacare policyholders to pre-COVID levels of federal assistance. 

WATCH: DOCTOR-LAWMAKER BLAMES OBAMACARE FOR DRIVING HEALTH COSTS HIGHER

Axelrod’s fellow CNN colleague, Scott Jennings, also responded, “If only we could identify who wrote this law in the first place!”

The Washington Examiner’s Tim Carney wrote in response to Axelrod, “This ‘ACA’ sounds like a pretty Bad Friggin Deal,” a reference to then-Vice President Joe Biden’s colorful phrase about the law.

“Weird. Doesn’t sound affordable,” another wrote.

A clip of Axelrod expressing support for the ACA also resurfaced, during which he said Obamacare would “improve the lives of people all across the country.”

Kyle Smith, a Wall Street Journal film critic, posted a screenshot of some text from Obama’s White House archives explaining his healthcare plan. 

“In keeping with President Obama’s pledge that reform must fix our health care system without adding to the deficit, the Affordable Care Act reduces the deficit, saving more than $200 billion over 10 years and more than $1 trillion in the second decade. The law reduces health care costs by rewarding doctors, hospitals and other providers that deliver high quality care, making investments to fund research into what works, and cracking down on waste, fraud, and abuse,” the text read.

The former Obama aide was swiftly criticized by members of his own party in 2022 after he complained of the cost of a prescription that was no longer covered by his insurance. Axelrod was called out by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., among others, for speaking out against “Medicare-for-all.”

Axelrod wrote for CNN in 2017 that he wept when they finally signed the ACA into law, and said people approached him frequently to discuss how the law helped them. He said he also remembered what it was like struggling to pay for treatments for his own daughter. 

“I can’t remember anyone stopping me to share the ‘horror stories’ President Trump and the relentless proponents of ‘repeal and replace’ invoke, though I know there are some who had had bare-bones policies and now are paying more for more coverage than they say they need. (I didn’t know what I needed until I needed it.),” he wrote. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE

He acknowledged it could be improved but ultimately railed against Republican support to get rid of the ACA at the time.

“Without question, the law can be improved. Among the needed steps, additional measures should be taken to stabilize rates in the private insurance exchanges through which 3% of Americans buy their insurance. A bipartisan group of senators was at work on such a plan before being sideswiped by the latest frantic effort to dismantle Obamacare,” he added.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The first Trump administration was unable to get a replacement plan passed through Congress.

Last Updated:February 12, 2026, 21:33 IST

Arun Jaitley Stadium Cold drink controversy: Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) issued a clarification on Thursday after a video went viral. In this video, it was alleged that the vendor selling cold drinks in Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium was refilling the old and leftover drinks in the empty bottles.

DDCA’s clarification in viral video

A teenage girl will become the next leader of North Korea, with Kim Jong Un set to confirm his daughter as successor, spy chiefs believe.

The announcement could come at party congress, the country’s largest political gathering, which is set to be held later this month after a five-year hiatus.

Ahead of the conference, Mr Kim seems to be taking steps to consolidate his daughter’s position as successor, according to South Korea’s National Intelligence Agency (NIS).

Believed to be named Kim Ju Ae, the girl has become increasingly prominent in North Korean propaganda and even seems to have an input on policy, the NIS said.

Intelligence officials briefed members of the South Korean parliament on the child’s evolving status in a closed-door session this week.

Lee Seong-kweun of the People Power Party said: “In the past, the NIS described Kim Ju Ae as being ‘in study as successor’.

“But today the expression used was that she ‘was in the stage of being internally appointed successor’.”

Park Sun-won of the Democratic Party said the girl was already being treated as the second-in-command, pointing to her public profile.

He said the NIS would closely monitor whether she attends this month’s congress, where the regime will set out its major policy goals for the coming years.

Kim Ju Ae first stepped on to the public stage when she attended a missile launch with her father in November 2022.

South Korean officials were initially sceptical about her status as successor, given North Korea’s conservative, patriarchal culture.

But recent appearances have forced a reassessment, with the girl accompanying her father to a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping last year.

She was also photographed with her parents at Pyongyang’s Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the embalmed bodies of her grandfather and great-grandfather are displayed.

Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at South Korea’s Sejong Institute, said the girl could be appointed first secretary of the ruling party at congress.

Read more:
North Korea ‘executes schoolkids for watching Squid Game’
Ukrainian children ‘sent to abusive camp in North Korea’

But Koh Yu-hwan, former president of South Korea’s Institute of National Unification, said her elevation could be signalled more subtly.

For example, he said it might be claimed that North Korea had survived thanks to “successful inheritance of the revolution”.

“If you see comments like that, it would be reasonable to think that Ju Ae has been cemented,” he said.

A potential weapon against Alzheimer’s disease could be hidden in aloe vera, scientists recently uncovered.

Aloe vera, a rubbery green plant, may be best known for its skin-soothing qualities, but a study published in Current Pharmaceutical Analysis suggests that key chemicals within the plant could interact with enzymes involved in Alzheimer’s disease, hinting at a new approach to disrupting cognitive breakdown.

A chemical messenger in the brain called acetylcholine, which helps nerve cells communicate, is reduced in Alzheimer’s patients, contributing to memory loss and cognitive decline, according to the study press release.

SCIENTISTS REVEAL THE ONE PRACTICE THAT COULD PREVENT DEMENTIA AS YOU AGE

Two enzymes in the brain (cholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase) play an important role in breaking down acetylcholine. Medications that slow these enzymes can sometimes help preserve the chemical messenger, improving symptoms in patients.

Scientists used computer simulations to study this process and predict how molecules behave inside the body.

Researchers discovered that specific compounds in aloe vera, particularly Beta sitosterol, can interact with brain enzymes linked to Alzheimer’s disease. (iStock)

“Our findings suggest that Beta sitosterol, one of the Aloe vera compounds, exhibits significant binding affinities and stability, making it a promising candidate for further drug development,” said lead study author Meriem Khedraoui, a researcher at University of Casablanca in Morocco, in the press release.

Beta sitosterol attached to the key enzymes more strongly than any other compound tested in computer simulations. This suggests that the compound could be effective in slowing down these enzymes, the researchers noted.

TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ

“These results highlight the potential of Beta sitosterol as a dual inhibitor, which could be crucial in managing Alzheimer’s disease,” added Khedraoui.

The team then examined the safety of such a compound to see if it could be used as a medication in the future. The compound was shown to be well-absorbed by the body and unlikely to be toxic at therapeutic levels.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES

“The comprehensive analysis supports the potential of these compounds as safe and effective therapeutic agents,” said Samir Chtita, another author of the study from the University of Casablanca, in the same press release.

Potential limitations

The researchers acknowledged that the work is still in early stages, given that the results rely solely on computer simulations and not real-world examples.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER

“Because aloe vera supplements are commonly sold over the counter, and because they have not been studied to validate their use in people with Alzheimer’s or other diseases that cause dementia or memory loss/cognitive decline, consumers need to be alert for any therapeutic claims made based on these results,” Christopher Weber, Ph.D., senior director of global science initiatives at the Alzheimer’s Association, told Fox News Digital.

Experts caution that the study relied on computer models and has not yet been validated in human clinical trials. (iStock)

Inhibiting cholinesterase in the brain does not slow or stop the brain cell death and other damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease, noted Weber, who was not involved in the study.

ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE COULD BE REVERSED BY RESTORING BRAIN BALANCE, STUDY SUGGESTS

“So even if these findings are later shown to be successful in human studies, this would not be a ‘disease-modifying’ treatment,” he added.

Further testing in lab experiments and clinical trials will be needed to confirm the efficacy of such a drug.

Preliminary safety analysis suggests the plant-based compound would be well absorbed by the human body and likely non-toxic at therapeutic levels. (IStock)

“There are many treatments in various stages of development — from laboratory work and animal models up to human clinical trials — that address the diseases in multiple ways,” said Weber.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Those with concerns about cognitive symptoms should talk to a doctor, he advised. More information is also available at the Alzheimer’s Association website, www.alz.org.

Last Updated:February 12, 2026, 21:21 IST

Patna Traffic Challan News: Usually people pay the challan, but there was a scooty running on the city roads on which challan was issued again and again and the owner did not make even a single payment. The result was that the outstanding amount increased to ₹ 1,43,000. The current price of Scooty in the market is estimated to be less than Rs 5 thousand.