The federal government formally entered a shutdown on Oct. 1, with a vicious debate over the extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits fueling the bipartisan standoff.
About 750,000 federal workers are expected to be furloughed during the government shutdown. Active-duty military members must continue to work during the shutdown, without pay, unless Congress passes the “Pay Our Military Act.”
Senate Democrats have three times blocked a two-week funding extension, saying they will not agree to a measure that does not include preservation of the enhanced ACA credits.
But even as Congress struggles to re-open government, more than 22 million Americans will receive notices of new ACA monthly premiums this month, which will be about double what they pay now, said Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA, in a Sept. 30 interview with American Community Media.
“It’s the urgency of the moment,” said Wright. “Millions of Americans are about to face massive premium spikes in what they pay for health coverage,” he added, noting that millions will pay upwards of $1,000 for healthcare coverage. “And so for those politicians who say maybe we put this off, their time is running out. People will fall off, be pushed, or priced out of coverage if nothing is done to address these premium spikes. A lot of people will be scared off.”
The enhanced premium tax credits, which Congress authorized at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, are offered to individuals whose health care premium exceeds 8.5 percent of their monthly income. They are set to expire Dec. 31, but notices of new premiums will go out this month as Open Enrollment begins Nov. 1.
In a memo released Oct. 1, the White House claimed that Democrats are holding the US government hostage as they seek to provide $193 billion in health care to undocumented residents. “Democrats and their Fake News allies want you to believe it’s all a lie that Democrats shut down the government over free healthcare for illegal aliens.”
“That’s why we’re in this mess right now. There is now an urgency because it wasn’t dealt with in any of the previous pieces of legislation,” said Wright. Small business people and their employees, gig workers — who currently make up about 1/3 of the US economy — farmers, ranchers, and others will all immediately feel the impact of doubled monthly premiums, he noted.
Several health advocacy groups have predicted that roughly 4 million Americans will lose health care coverage at the end of this year because they cannot afford higher premiums. Additionally, the “One Big Beautiful Bill” — recently rebranded the “Working Families Tax Cut Act” — has placed tighter constraints around Medicaid eligibility, and is expected to leave 12 million people without healthcare coverage.
California, along with several other states, offers health care to its undocumented residents via Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid.
