A sign points the way during an Affordable Care Act sign-up event.
House Speaker Mike Johnson holds a press conference at the U.S. Capitol during the government shutdown on Oct. 6, 2025.

The government shutdown remains at a standstill, with the issue at the center being that Democrats demand that Republicans pass extensions for subsidies of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Republican leadership remains unwilling to negotiate until the government is reopened. However, there has been some openness within the Republican ranks to extend the Obamacare subsidies for another year.

That's something Republicans should refuse. Not only can America not afford to continue subsidizing a failing health care plan, but it is the right political decision as well. It should be an easy choice.

What are the Affordable Care Act subsidies?

Health insurance premiums have skyrocketed since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

This rise in premiums can be chiefly attributed to the flurry of regulations imposed on health insurance companies under the ACA. Guaranteed issue and community rating regulations are expensive regulations that have driven up the cost of health care.

To combat this and keep enrollees' monthly payments down, Democrats in 2021 passed enhanced subsidies, going further than those in the original legislation, choosing to spread the cost of these rising premiums across all taxpayers rather than just the program's enrollees.

They later extended the subsidies as a part of the misnomered Inflation Reduction Act, leaving them set to expire at the end of 2025. Democrats have forced a government shutdown in order to negotiate with Republicans for an extension.

Making the subsidies permanent would add an additional $350 billion to the deficit over the next decade. But if the premium subsidies are allowed to expire, the average enrollee in ACA insurance plans would see their premiums more than double.

That is a fact, and one that Democrats are eager to repeat.

Democrats are right that people will lose health care, but the cost of keeping the enhanced subsidies far outweighs that downside. However, the existing subsidies under the base contents of the ACA, which will remain in place regardless of the outcome of this political fight, are still rather generous.

ACA subsidies only hide the flaws within Obamacare

I don't want anyone to lose their health care, but the reason we are here is because the Affordable Care Act has been a failure, not because of the actions of Republicans. If we have to choose between endlessly throwing an increasing amount of taxpayer money at a failing program and some people losing their health care, the unfortunate choice has to be made to allow these subsidies to expire.

But the hike in premiums only reveals the true cost of the policies under the ACA. High premiums are a sign of flaws in the underlying policy, not in Republicans being sheepish against spending billions on a failing health care plan. The extended subsidies only serve to mask the issues with the ACA, not actually solve them.

The fact that subsidies are the only thing preventing premiums from rising so much reveals glaring problems with the ACA as it was originally designed. The ACA keeps driving costs of insurance up, and Democrats demand that we allow increasingly higher-income people to enroll in the plans.

If Republicans can’t muster the backbone to let these subsidies expire now, the subsidized level of spending will become the status quo.

Democrats will undoubtedly call Republicans heartless as a result of this, something Republicans would prefer to avoid going into an election year, but the decision to extend would be far worse for the country than a difficult election cycle for Republicans.

Republicans may be in a bind, but they must let subsidies expire

Politically, Republicans are in somewhat of a bind, but in reality, their decision should be rather easy.

Historically, the party making demands is the one that is blamed for the shutdown. In 2013, when Republicans demanded a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, their approval rating reached record lows before they ultimately folded for minor concessions.

The 2019 shutdown of 35 days, the longest in American history, had fewer clear winners or losers. This is because Republicans, the party with complete control, were the ones making inordinate demands, namely, funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall project. Optics were further blurred by the fact that the shutdown occurred across two congresses: one where Republicans had complete control, and another where Democrats had retaken a majority in the House.

In this case, Trump has an opportunity in front of him. He has already frozen billions in funding to blue states, infrastructure projects and climate projects. Trump has also indicated he is looking at which agencies to cut funding from to have the most impact on his Democratic opponents, as well as the opportunity to lay off federal employees.

If Republicans won't let these ACA subsidies expire now, when it is most politically convenient for them to do so, they will have only pushed this fight further down the road and accepted the subsidized level as the new normal. Republicans should not give in to Democratic demands, both for the good of the country and for their own political interests.

Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for USA TODAY and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Republicans have the perfect chance to stop wasting your money on the ACA | Opinion

Reporting by Dace Potas, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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