Democrats shut down the government over a piddling price rise — but fight real reform

Three dollars a week. That’s the number that led Democrats to shut down the federal government—a month-long drama with no end in sight—that’s doing growing damage to Americans’ paychecks, the economy, and national security.

They’re demanding that President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans permanently extend the expanded Obamacare subsidies that President Joe Biden temporarily created during the pandemic. But when those extra handouts expire at the end of the year, the average Obamacare individual market enrollee will pay just $3 more a week.

That’s according to the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which last week released premium costs for 2026. It looks nothing like the affordability disaster Democrats are predicting because they and their media allies are trying to pull the wool over Americans’ eyes. The plain truth is this: they shut down the government to prevent a price hike that virtually anyone could afford.

When you dig into the details, their demands look even more absurd. Next year, according to CMS, taxpayers are still going to cover 91% of premiums for individual market enrollees. That’s right: even without extending the pandemic subsidies, taxpayers will cover more than $9 out of every $10 for eligible subsidized enrollees who buy plans on the Obamacare exchanges.

At that point, the typical enrollee will pay about $50 a month after tax credits—or less than $12 a week.

Democrats say they’re fighting to prevent an affordability crisis, but where is it? The fuzzy math they’re using is based on extreme examples, not the average enrollee. Obamacare’s subsidies were already generous before Biden boosted them, and they’ll still be generous once the extra giveaways expire.

What’s actually unaffordable is the price tag of making Biden’s expanded handouts permanent: $450 billion over the next decade alone. Such an enormous cost is unsustainable at a time of massive debt and deficits.

Ditto the other $1 trillion that Democrats are demanding, such as repealing the OBBA’s Medicaid reforms—including commonsense work requirements—though extending Biden’s pandemic subsidy is their top priority.

None of this is to say that Obamacare is working. The system is profoundly broken, with premiums that have soared virtually every year since the law went into effect in 2014. Obamacare needs wholesale reform to give Americans lower prices and more choices — yet Democrats won’t work with Republicans to make that happen.

Instead, Trump has had to enact more limited reforms at the edges. But his actions are giving Americans real relief, making the Democrat-driven shutdown even less defensible.

In recent months, the president took two key steps to help Americans avoid Obamacare’s higher prices.

First, his One Big Beautiful Bill Act dramatically expanded how individual market enrollees can use Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Previously, HSAs were limited to those buying high-deductible health plans. Now, even those who buy the lowest-cost plans—bronze and copper—can pay for their premiums using tax-deductible dollars. This reform makes the extra $3 a week brought on by the lapsing subsidy even more affordable.

Second, Trump made virtually every American eligible for catastrophic plans. These plans are often dramatically cheaper, with premiums around 22% less than bronze plans and 60% less than gold plans. Until now, catastrophic plans have only been available to younger Americans, but now most people can buy one to avoid Obamacare’s higher premiums.

I’m a case in point. I buy my own health insurance and currently have a bronze plan. But next year, for the first time in my area, a catastrophic plan will be the cheapest option available to me, thanks to the president’s reform. I’m going to choose the most affordable one and use an HSA to save even more money. Many other Americans will make the same decision, and the only reason we can is because Trump has given us more affordable options that his predecessors blocked.

In fact, I have an additional 13 plans to choose from compared to last year—and I’m not alone there, either. CMS confirms that in 2026 most Healthcare.gov states have as many or more plan issuers than they did last year.

Add it all up, and it’s clear Trump and Republicans, not the Democrats, are the ones fighting for affordable health care through real reforms that put downward pressure on Obamacare’s skyrocketing premiums.

There’s still more work to be done to create low-cost options, such as by expanding association health plans and codifying short-term plans and other affordable arrangements. But Democrats won’t lift a finger to help. Instead, they’re fighting to cover up rising costs by throwing hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars at the problem they created—and they’re willing to keep the government closed until they get their way.

It speaks volumes that Democrats will go to such lengths over just $3 a week. It says even more that they won’t lift a finger to help truly lower the cost of health care for hardworking Americans.

*Hayden Dublois is data and analytics director at the Foundation for Government Accountability.*
https://nypost.com/2025/11/04/opinion/dems-shut-down-the-government-for-a-tiny-price-rise-but-fight-real-reform/

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