As the partial federal government shutdown reached its 20th day Monday, local Democrats in Congress aren’t backing down from demands that Republicans extend a hefty health care subsidy that’s currently lowering the cost of care for 1.7 million Californians and tens of thousands of Bay Area residents.
The federal government shut down Oct. 1 amid a bid by Democrats in the U.S. Senate to extend the Affordable Care Act premium tax credit, which has lowered costs for millions nationally since its Biden-era expansion. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has described the credit as a “boondoggle” and slammed Democrats for repeatedly withholding their votes this month in a stop-gap measure to fund the government.
Without an agreement, the credit will expire at the end of December. The Californians who receive the credit would see their premium rise $125 per month on average, according to Jagdip Dhillon, a spokesperson for Covered California, the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace.
Local Democrats sounded the alarm on Monday and placed blame squarely on Republicans. Their message to the GOP: “Get back to the negotiating table before we have a health care crisis,” Democratic Rep. Jimmy Panetta told reporters. Panetta represents East San Jose south to Paso Robles.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a veteran Democrat who represents San Jose and a swath of central California, said 21,000 people in her district will see their premiums rise unless Republicans allow the Affordable Care Act tax credits to continue, she said.
Democratic representatives throughout the Bay Area are also pushing to extend health care funding. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, whose district includes most of Contra Costa County, was expected to host a virtual town hall Tuesday to discuss his party’s “fight against Republican policy attacking the ACA, Medicaid, and your family’s future.”
Lofgren said Republicans have refused to negotiate and described their position as “untenable.” She urged Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota to come to the negotiating table in good faith.
Otherwise, “their constituents will hold them accountable,” Lofgren said.
Republicans hold majorities in Congress but do not have the 60 Senate votes needed to overcome a filibuster, a procedure that prevents a vote. Senate Republicans Monday said they “have voted repeatedly to fund our government, including the military, air traffic controllers, the WIC program for poor mothers, and SNAP benefits for the hungry.” They’ve argued Democrats “wanted” the shutdown and “have taken the American people hostage.”
In Santa Clara County, 27,000 people are projected to lose their health care coverage altogether, mostly because of the expiring the tax credits, said Laura Rosas, CEO of Valley Health Plan, which is owned and operated by the county. That’s one-third of the county’s Affordable Care Act recipients, Rosas said.
Other factors include regulatory changes adopted by the Republican administration of President Donald Trump and reforms in Trump’s centerpiece “Big, Beautiful Bill,” she said.
Aside from the tax credit, Santa Clara County projected the cuts in Trump’s bill will result in $4.4 billion in lost revenue to the county through the 2029-2030 fiscal year. County officials are asking voters to approve a sales tax increase, Measure A, to blunt the fiscal impact.
According to Rosas, a Covered California enrollee earning between $39,000 and $62,000 would see their monthly premium increase from $189 to $293 if the credit expires.
Josephine Aranda of San Jose said she’s so worried about rising health care premiums that she and her husband may have to take the painful step of moving out of Silicon Valley for somewhere more affordable. Aranda said she receives the premium tax credit. If it expires, the lives of those benefiting would be “upended.”
“Every human being deserves health insurance,” she said, “like the air that we breathe.”
A former operations manager for clinical laboratories at Stanford Health Care, Aranda said she is a self-employed insurance business owner with her husband. They also own rental housing, she said.
Dhillon, of Covered California, said monthly premiums would spike $85 on average for those earning less than $62,600 per year, and $502 on average for those earning more, if the enhanced tax credit expires. Those most impacted would be Affordable Care Act enrollees in the 50s and 60s who are too young to enroll in Medicare, as well as people of color, who had “some of the highest gains in enrollment” since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the agency.
Dhillon urged subsidy recipients who are confused or concerned about rising costs to call the agency’s service center for guidance at (800) 300-1506, or to seek out a community-based-organization that helps residents navigate the health care system.
“Despite the uncertainty, they are on top of the changes and can assist in helping Californians the plan that is right for them and their family,” she said.
While Lofgren urged Johnson to call members back to Washington, D.C., and strike a deal to extend the subsidy — and end the federal shutdown — she expressed little faith in her counterparts across the aisle. During her first federal shutdown, in 1995, she said Democratic President Bill Clinton stepped in to break the impasse. But this time around, Trump has appeared uninterested in negotiation, and the GOP has blasted Democrats with AI-generated videos, she said.
“Trump is missing in action,” she said.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson fired back in an email.
“The Democrats’ decision to shut down the government is hurting Americans across the country,” she wrote. “While (Senate Minority Leader) Chuck Schumer thinks every day of the shutdown ‘gets better,’ the Trump Administration and the American people know the reality: it doesn’t.”