The US government has now been shut down for 40 days, the longest in history, and there’s still no deal in sight. The battle in Washington has become a political struggle plus a policy struggle and health care is the center stage of the whole mess.
On the weekend, Donald Trump unleashed his unstopped criticism of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, in which he claims that the existing system of insurance subsidies is a windfall to large insurance companies and a nightmare to American citizens. He is urging to channel that money directly to individuals rather than insurance companies, a notion which seems easy to sell on paper but is currently not catching on in Congress.
Democrats are holding firm. They also insist that they would not agree to pass any funding bill until they have these subsidies extended. In their absence, millions of individuals that purchase coverage via the ACA marketplaces might have their premiums doubled in the upcoming year.
The Senate has been slightly stirred. The legislators were making progress on a short-term expenditure bill that would allow the government to continue operating until the end of January. It also incorporates the back pay to federal employees and safeguards to ensure that agencies do not reduce their employees in the case of the shutdown. Yet the difficult part of passing it remains.
However, the negative impact continues to expand into reality. Furlough still affects hundreds of thousands of government workers. Air transport has been a disaster in terms of TSA and air-traffic shortages. Programs on food and nutrition are under pressure. The worst thing is that this comes at the time the holiday season is approaching. According to economists, the further this is maintained, the larger the blow to the economy. There is some warning that should it drag into December then it may drag US growth into negative quarters.
Mediating between the two extremes, there are some moderate republicans and independents who are seeking to affect some form of compromise. Yet neither party appears willing to yield, the Democrats do not believe that Trump has a design to the plan and Trump does not appear willing to withdraw his campaign to redefine Obamacare.
At this stage no one is certain when the government is going to open. What is evident is that the shutdown has become more than a budget battle as it is becoming more like a battle that defines the future of what American health care would be in the post-Obamacare period.
