Shutdown Risks Leaving Millions With Costlier Health Insurance

Millions of Americans who buy their own health insurance face higher premiums in 2026. Just how much higher will depend on who blinks first in the government-shutdown fight.

Enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies put in place by Democrats in 2021 made health insurance basically free for many people during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet that financial cushion is set to end next year, with the tax credits resetting to their original, less-generous levels.

Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, during a rally for health-care funding with Democratic lawmakers in Washington on Sept. 30.

Photographer: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg

Democrats have refused to vote for any government funding legislation that doesn’t extend the richer subsidies. Republicans, who control the House and Senate, have ...