A Shutdown of Compassion: The Latest Assault on Obamacare
- Vice President Joe Biden on the passage of Obamacare
The current shutdown of the federal government is not the first time that vital services have been paused as our elected representatives argued over the future of Obamacare. In September 2013, three and a half years after the groundbreaking law was passed with a party-line vote, Republicans held the government hostage for 16 days in an attempt to delay implementation of the law designed to give more people access to health care. This was despite Republicans having successfully added 188 amendments to the proposal as it made its way through Congress.
Republicans were forced to abandon their efforts when they were unable to rally the public behind their point of view. In the 12 years since that shutdown, they have tried hundreds of times to kill the crowning achievement of Obama’s presidency. Success eluded them until last June, when the passage of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill resulted in changes that will cause an estimated 8.2 million people to lose access to health insurance. Another 7.8 million will become uninsured because of the changes Trump’s law made to Medicaid coverage.
As the minority party in a government where all three branches are controlled by Republicans, the Democratic Party has very few ways it can challenge these devastating changes. In a last-ditch effort to preserve healthcare access for 16 million Americans, they have taken advantage of the filibuster to prevent the passage of a Continuing Resolution to keep the government running until a budget can be passed. They insist that they will keep the government closed until Republicans agree to restore the funding for health care.
Republicans have refused even to negotiate. In an attempt to force his opponents’ hands, Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson will not even call the House into session. He has also declined Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ invitation to publicly debate him over these issues on the floor of the House.
Although Johnson is not known for his political adeptness, it is probably still obvious to him that he does not have the facts to back up his position. While Trump may have convinced the MAGA faithful that Democrats have shut down the government to provide undocumented immigrants with insurance, they have never been eligible to purchase subsidized coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace. A master debater like Jeffries would be expected to overwhelm Johnson with facts if the Speaker attempted to continue this false narrative.
The Speaker also knows that he has an even weaker hand than John Boehner did the last time Republicans shut down the government to kill Obamacare. While 42% of those polled had an unfavorable view of the law in September 2013, most Americans today have seen its positive effects on the health insurance market and have a favorable view. It reached its highest favorability in June of 2025, when 66% of those polled expressed a positive view.
While the American public continues to improve its view of Obamacare, Trump continues to push the viewpoint that “Obamacare Sucks!!!” While tomorrow may always be a day away, Trump’s plan for “MUCH BETTER HEALTHCARE” is always two weeks away. In the decade since he descended the golden escalator in front of adoring (paid) fans, he has yet to present even a concept of the plan he wants to replace the law passed by his Nobel Peace Prize-winning predecessor. In the meantime, Obamacare has significantly decreased the number of Americans who are uninsured:
Unfortunately, these benefits have not been felt uniformly across the country. As with many other indicators of performance, Red States dominate the bottom of the scale. All eleven of the states with the most uninsured are those that voted for Trump. This is what happens when the electorate constantly votes against its own interests so that the economic elite can pay fewer taxes and extract the most out of the economy.
Of the 11 states at the bottom, seven refused to participate in the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Wyoming, Georgia, Florida, and Texas had the opportunity to have the federal government pay for 90% of the cost of enrolling their citizens in the program, but chose to put politics over the lives of their constituents.
In total, ten states have refused to expand their Medicaid programs under Obamacare. All had below-average healthcare outcomes. Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming all fell in the bottom ten.
These failures in the red states have life and death results. All ten of the states that have the lowest life expectancy voted for Trump in 2024. South Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi refused to expand Medicaid under Obamacare.
On the other end of the spectrum, states that voted for Kamala Harris have better outcomes. This includes the states with the highest life expectancy, all of which are Blue:
Rather than keeping the government shutdown to dismantle what works, Republicans should learn from states that have embraced reform, because healthcare isn’t a partisan issue; it’s a human one. This is the type of bipartisanship this country craves.
Dr. Diane Ravitch has recognized education advocate Carl Petersen as “a valiant fighter for public schools.” A former Green Party candidate for the LAUSD School Board, Petersen is a passionate voice for special education, shaped by raising two daughters with severe autism. He recently relocated to the State of Washington to embrace his role as “Poppy” to two grandsons. Explore more at www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com.