What the Government Shutdown Debate is Really About: Health Care Tax Credits for Working Class Americans

Vice President JD Vance outright lied when he posted on X and said on Fox News that the government shutdown is over demands for illegal immigrants to get health care. No such demands exist. The issue in question is whether we prevent a massive spike in health care costs for millions of Americans. We should not fall for another immigration scare tactic from this administration to divert attention from the defunding of the health system on which we all rely.

The urgent issue up for debate is whether to allow tax credits for low- and middle-income Americans to expire and health insurance premiums to spike for millions of Americans citizens. If Congress doesn't extend existing tax credits that allow working-class American citizens to afford health coverage, premiums will go up by hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. Those who buy coverage as an individual or family will, on average, see their premiums double.

Republicans in Congress just passed HR1 this summer which made huge tax credits for billionaires and big corporations permanent-but have as of yet blocked multiple attempts and amendments to do the same for the tax credits that help more than 20 million working class Americans afford their health insurance premiums. It's telling that Republican leaders in Congress are willing to shut down the government to avoid extending this affordability assistance to the working class.

Just to be clear on the Vice President's scare tactic, no undocumented immigrant qualifies or gets these tax credits currently. Who depends on these tax credits? Any American who buys health coverage and doesn't get it through a public program or employer-think restaurant and retail workers, small business owners and employees, barbers, beauticians, and baristas, and gig workers for Uber, Lyft, and Door Dash. This literally includes a quarter of ranchers and farmers, of musicians and entertainers, of real estate agents, and of dentists and certain medical specialists. Those hit particularly hard will be folks in their 50s and 60s, who may see coverage costs go up by over $1000 a month.

The VP's tweet is part of a pattern they used during the fight over the tax bill - they said they weren't cutting Medicaid, only for the exception of undocumented immigrants. But in fact, undocumented immigrants were already excluded from federal Medicaid coverage, and their "one big beautiful" budget and tax bill cut Medicaid by a whopping $950 billion, the biggest cut to the program in history. A relatively small percentage of the savings resulted from cutting care to immigrants, and that was mostly legal immigrants, -refugees and others who have the right paperwork and yet still had their access to health care ripped away.

We should discuss the economic case to care for our neighbors in our communities who contribute to our society, economy and our tax base. We should debate the public health case for providing primary and preventive care, rather than letting undocumented immigrants go untreated, allowing conditions to get worse and treating them in the emergency room - the most expensive place to provide care. Families USA understands that our public health and health system is stronger when everyone is included. But that is not the debate that surrounds this government shutdown. The debate right now is about steps that Congress can take to immediately lower health care costs for millions of Americans, and if Republicans continue to dig in and refuse to extend these tax credits, we will all see premiums skyrocket as a result.

The Republican health care cuts law will lead to more than 10 million eligible Americans losing their Medicaid coverage. If these tax credits expire as well, another 4 million Americans could lose their private insurance coverage. The ripple effect of so many millions of Americans losing access to health care will be devastating for our health care system for all of us, and for our economy at large.

So when you see a politician posting on social media or hear them yelling about stripping immigrants of so-called benefits, beware for what they are really doing. Watch your wallet - and your health care.