Medications are stored on shelves at a pharmacy on May 12, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
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Eric Thayer/Getty Images
Health care is at the heart of the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history. That shutdown is on the brink of ending, but the health care issue that started it is still not resolved.
Since 2021, people who buy their health care on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces have had extra help — in the form of tax credits — to buy their plans.
If Congress can’t agree on a compromise, those subsidies that made a record number of Americans sign up for ACA plans will expire for 2026 health plans.
Negotiations to reopen the federal government also promise a Senate vote on the health care subsidies by the second week of December. But that informal deal is not part of the official legislative text to reopen the government.
Meanwhile, open enrollment has started, allowing consumers to shop for next year’s plans. Because Congress hasn’t yet agreed to renew the subsidies, many of the 24 million people who have these plans will see large jumps in the monthly price they may pay, compared to their 2025 plans.
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