Georgia Families Fear Health Coverage Loss as Shutdown Fight Enters a New Week

WASHINGTON — As the federal government enters a new week of the shutdown, the fate of critical health care programs — including Medicaid and Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies — remains at the center of the political stalemate.

The dispute stems from the Republican-backed “One Big Beautiful Bill,” passed in July, which proposes over $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid over the next decade and eliminates ACA subsidies that help millions of Americans afford health insurance.

If the subsidies lapse, more than 1.4 million Georgians who rely on them could lose their health coverage — a devastating blow for many families already struggling to stay afloat.

“The ACA subsidies are keeping me alive,” said Judy Kreps, a resident of rural Lumpkin County. “My husband’s a cancer survivor. My daughter has a chronic illness, and we would have been bankrupt — literally — without the ACA. We would’ve lost our house because that stuff is expensive to treat.”

Kreps said her health insurance premium would cost around $900 per month without federal assistance. With the subsidy, she pays just $70 a month. She fears that if Congress fails to renew the program, families like hers will be forced to make impossible choices between health care and survival. “We would’ve been bankrupt,” she said. “Bankrupt and homeless is what we would’ve been.”

Health Care Subsidies, Medicaid Cuts Remain Sticking Points

About 750,000 federal workers have been furloughed as the shutdown drags into its sixth day. Democrats have insisted that any funding bill to reopen the government must also restore the Medicaid cuts Republicans passed this summer and extend enhanced ACA subsidies set to expire at the end of the year.

The White House has urged Democrats to join Republicans in passing a clean bill to reopen the government first, saying that lawmakers will then negotiate health care policy before the subsidies expire, but Democrtas are not falling for that, calling it an empty promise.

Trump, however, has not said whether he would support extending the ACA subsidies — part of former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, which Republicans have long sought to dismantle.