Time is short for an ACA premium fix in the shutdown fight, says GOP insurance leader

Source: NPR

October 4, 2025 9:56 AM ET


On Capitol Hill right now, there's a partisan argument over if and when lawmakers need to act to extend subsidies for the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. That's where 24 million people — who don't have insurance through their jobs or a public program like Medicaid — buy health plans.

The argument is at the heart of the government shutdown that started Oct. 1. Democratic lawmakers say extending enhanced premium tax credits is urgent, with open enrollment weeks away. Republican lawmakers say there's time to negotiate over a policy later, since the subsidies expire in December.

Who's right? "The window is rapidly closing," says Jon Godfread, North Dakota's insurance commissioner. He says the enhanced subsidies need to be extended before open enrollment starts Nov. 1. "Let's do this now."

If lawmakers miss that deadline, he says, "it's going to be really, really challenging to go back [to consumers] and say, 'OK, now we fixed it, please come back and shop at this market that you were priced out of.' I just don't believe consumers are going to do that."

Read more: https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/10/04/nx-s1-5562517/aca-obamacare-shutdown-trump-naic-health-insurance