Bursting the Democrats’ Shutdown Bubble: Health Care Can Remain Affordable Without Costly Subsidies

Nov 19, 2025 by AFP

You might be asking: Why are some in Washington still insisting that health care costs will skyrocket if the Affordable Care Act expansions expire?

Democrats insist that when the temporary Obamacare Covid expansions expire — as intended — costs will skyrocket for the most vulnerable.

This claim just doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.

Despite what you may have heard, ending the temporary Obamacare Covid expansions won’t blow up the cost of health care.

A new federal report confirms that the most affordable Obamacare plans will cost the eligible enrollees just $50 a month on average after subsidies.

That’s less than $2 a day.

The truth? Subsidized health insurance will remain well within reach for millions of Americans who need a little financial help to afford coverage.

Dysfunction based on misinformation

Democrats cling to the debunked talking point that letting the temporary Covid-era ACA expansions end will hurt vulnerable families.

In reality, that argument has become a convenient excuse to delay any meaningful change to Obamacare, a failed program that has made health insurance less and less affordable over the past 10 years.

Thanks to Obamacare, Americans are stuck in a broken health care system where:

Millions are trapped in expensive plans that don’t meet their needs
Premiums and deductibles keep climbing, despite record government subsidies
Bureaucrats, not doctors, decide what care people can access
Innovation and competition are stifled by red tape and pay-to-play policies

Meanwhile, Washington insists that we aren’t capable of making our own health care choices.

What the Democrats don’t want you to know

According to the 2026 Marketplace Plans and Prices Fact Sheet:

The average cost for the most affordable ACA insurance plan will be just $50 per month, which is 40% lower than five years ago.

Nearly 3 in 5 enrollees will have access to this kind of plan.

That’s the good news (for enrollees).

The bad news (for taxpayers) is that 85% of the cost will be covered by the taxpayer.

Obamacare is broken and unsustainable in its current form. But the above numbers demolish the false claim that ending the Covid-era expansions will make coverage unaffordable. The data tells a different story: Subsidized health insurance remains accessible — even without bloated, pandemic-era subsidies.

As AFP expert Dean Clancy has said, “Democrats’ #1 excuse for the shutdown just went ‘poof.”

Why the Covid credits should expire

Now that the fearmongering has been debunked, let’s not forget that the ACA expansions were always meant to be temporary.

They were always intended to expire.

There are good reasons to let them expire:

The pandemic is over — and so is the need for pandemic-level spending.
Most enrollees pay nothing for their plans, removing any incentive to shop for value or manage costs.
Thanks to the expansions, enrollment has more than doubled — from 4 million in 2020 to 24.3 million in 2025 — yet nearly half of the new participants are “phantom enrollees” who don’t even use their coverage (and may not even know they’re enrolled).
The expansions unleashed an avalanche of fraud driven by unscrupulous brokers and agents who sign people up without their knowledge, even though many already have private health insurance or Medicaid.
Subsidized plans are available for families making up to $500,000 a year, with little to no income verification.
The cost is unsustainable — now topping $125 billion a year and adding to our $38 trillion national debt.

The bottom line is that every other emergency measure is gone — masks, lockdowns, unemployment boosts. If Washington can’t kill a “temporary” program now, what will they ever roll back?

The real solution to health care

Instead of clinging to a bloated, one-size-fits-all system, Congress should advance reforms that support a personal option in health care.

Obamacare is broken and making health care unaffordable. But we can make health care affordable again.

How? By replacing one-size-fits-all government plans with real patient control.

Americans will save money, enjoy more health care freedom, and be able to embrace the American Dream.

By increasing access to Direct Primary Care and tax-free Health Savings Accounts, we can ensure your health won’t be as vulnerable to failed programs and politically motivated government shutdowns.

We’ve already made some great progress on expanding access to HSAs and DPC in President Trump’s recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill.

But much more needs to be done.