LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Five weeks into the federal shutdown, Congress isn't any closer to an agreement. The standstill comes down to one key issue: expanding subsidies for Affordable Care Act insurance.
Millions of people could soon be hit with massive increases in health care premiums.
Democrats first passed the expanded ACA subsidies in 2021 as part of COVID-19 pandemic relief legislation. The impact of the expiration varies greatly depending on age, income, state and household size.
Here are some numbers Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear shared on Friday. He said a family of four in Kentucky making $130,000 would see their health care premiums go up by more than $12,000 a year.
For a 60-year-old couple making $85,000 a year, Beshear said that premium cost could rise by nearly $24,000.
Those numbers have people like Ann Pipes worried.
"It's really stressful," Pipes said. "I'm losing sleep over it. I think all day about what we're going to do if we lose health insurance."
Beshear said pairing this with the cuts to Medicaid from the Big Beautiful Bill Act could be devastating for the commonwealth.
"Kentucky is going to be one of the states hit hardest by these Medicaid cuts," Beshear said Tuesday. "Which could close 35 rural hospitals, cut 20,000 health care jobs, and threaten the lives of 200,000 Kentuckians who could lose all coverage."
U.S. Congressman Brett Guthrie (R-2) sent WDRB the following statement regarding the standstill in Congress:
"Democrats continue to use hardworking families as 'leverage' for their reckless political games. Republicans have voted time and again to lower health insurance costs for Americans. In fact, in the House passed version of the Working Families Tax Cuts, we included policies that targeted waste, fraud, and abuse and lowered health care premiums substantially. We've heard from both sides of the aisle that Obamacare is unaffordable, but we cannot address the unaffordability problem while Democrats hold the American people hostage over temporary subsides for their big health insurance friends."
Open enrollment starts Nov. 1 in Kentucky.
Kentucky Congressman Morgan McGarvey (D-3) said whether you're on ACA or employer-based insurance, you're going to see your health care premiums go up.
"When people get their open enrollment notices, they are going to see as much as a 10-fold increase in their health care," McGarvey said.
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