As the federal government shutdown enters its tenth day, one major health care issue has continued to be a sticking point: insurance subsidies.The Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, or premium tax credits, help lower or eliminate the out-of-pocket cost of monthly premiums for those who purchase insurance through the health insurance marketplace.Eligibility for the subsidies can include factors such as household income and geographic location.Consumer sentiment sours as government shutdown threatens economic damageThe subsidies were part of the original Affordable Care Act passed during the Obama administration and were enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic to increase the amount of financial assistance to those who were already eligible and to expand eligibility to more people.They are set to expire at the end of the year.Republicans have said the expansions from the pandemic era went too far and have tried to persuade Democrats to fund a temporary spending bill that doesn't address the expiring ACA subsidies, with promises of discussing ways to continue the subsidies later.House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., referred to the Dec.
31 deadline to extend subsidies as being far away."That's a Dec.31 issue," he said during a news conference earlier this week.
"There are lots of conversations and deliberations and discussions right now, even bipartisan amongst members about necessary changes that would have to be made, pretty dramatic changes to even have that considered on the floor.But look, I'm not going to forecast the outcome of that."However, Democrats say that with open enrollment for ACA plans beginning Nov.
1, the subsidies not being approved could be detrimental for millions of American families."The Democrats have said that their position on getting out of the shutdown period is that they would want to both extend and make permanent these enhanced marketplace premium tax credits," Melinda Buntin, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Healt...