Following the longest government shutdown in history, Congress ended 2025 without extending COVID-era enhanced subsidies in the individual market. Yet the real crisis remains: America’s healthcare system is still on life support.
The partisan brawl over subsidies is just the latest skirmish. Democrats warned of crushing cost hikes for millions if subsidies lapse; Republicans insisted the aid was never meant to be permanent. Both points are true. Yet they miss the larger reality: U.S. medical care is fundamentally unaffordable, its prices relentlessly inflated by multiple players across the healthcare industry.
