The Healthcare Fight at the Heart of the Shutdown

shutdown的核心医疗斗争

The Journal.

2025-11-05

16 分钟
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The debate over healthcare subsidies has shut down the federal government for a historic length of time. With open enrollment underway, many Americans who pay for plans under the Affordable Care Act are experiencing sticker shock. Some costs have doubled, tripled, or even quintupled. WSJ’s Anna Wilde Matthews takes us inside the hefty premium hikes and explains why the high price tag could have an impact on the system as a whole. Ryan Knutson hosts. Further Listening: -The Healthcare Costs of Trump's Big Beautiful Bill -Medicare, Inc. Part 1: How Insurers Make Billions From Medicare -Medicare Inc. Part 2: Taxpayers Paid for care Denied by Insurers Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  • It's almost official.

  • As of this evening, this will be the longest government shutdown in U.S.

  • history.

  • And Democrats and Republicans are at a standstill, largely over one issue, health care costs.

  • And it's an issue that's on the minds of millions of Americans this week.

  • Open enrollment for Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, officially kicked off on Saturday.

  • And when Kevin Foster logged in to check out his plan, he saw a number that made his eyes bulge.

  • I just thought it was ridiculous.

  • Kevin is 64 years old.

  • He's a former business consultant and he lives in California.

  • This year, Kevin paid about $7,000 to cover himself and his wife.

  • Next year, the total will be more than five times that, $38,000.

  • I thought there had to have been an error.

  • And I went through the selection criteria to ensure I was selecting the same plan

  • as I previously had.

  • And sure enough, it was that amount.

  • Kevin's plan was the same, but something big had changed.

  • And it's the very thing Republicans and Democrats are fighting over, a government subsidy.

  • The startling thing is that you think you plan every year.

  • And you think you know what your costs are and what you can do and what you can spend money on.