Millions Face Soaring Health Insurance Premiums as <span class="caps">GOP</span> Refuses to Extend Obamacare Subsidies

The central fight in the U.S. federal government shutdown has been over healthcare costs, with Democrats demanding that Republicans agree to extend subsidies for the Affordable Care Act set to expire this Saturday. Without an extension of those subsidies, health premiums could more than double for millions of people across the country. The enhanced subsidies were first put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The purpose of healthcare has increasingly become profit-making rather than a public service,” says Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, professor of public health at Hunter College and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program. She says that while extending the Obamacare subsidies is vital, the United States should move toward universal public healthcare like every other major Western economy “and away from our private, profit-oriented healthcare system.”

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42 Million to Lose Food Assistance as Trump Refuses to Tap Emergency <span class="caps">SNAP</span> Funds

More than 1.4 million federal employees missed their first full paychecks on Friday as the government shutdown enters its fifth week. Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture warns that food aid to 42 million people could be cut off starting November 1, as the Trump administration refuses to use a $5 billion contingency fund to maintain SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, popularly known as food stamps. Gina Plata-Nino from the Food Research and Action Center says the loss of SNAP benefits will have cascading impacts as credit card debt soars, rent payments are delayed and food banks get overrun. “We are going to see a decrease in people’s well-being,” says Plata-Nino.

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