COMMENTARY: Lives at stake

We’re now three weeks into a government shutdown that could’ve been avoided if Republicans had chosen to put families first and taken action to prevent a massive spike in health-care costs.

Republicans control the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House. They have control of all committees, set the agenda, and decide what we vote on. At the same time, they’ve known — as we all have — that we were approaching a deadline this year that would put health care at risk for many Americans.

Republicans decided that shutting down the government — and, in the case of House Republicans, leaving town and taking a government-paid vacation — was a better choice than protecting your health.

Here is what’s going on: In 2020, Democrats created the enhanced premium tax credits to build on the Affordable Care Act to help lower health care costs for Americans at a time when costs were going up. This wasn’t a handout or welfare. It’s a tax cut that helps lower the cost of health care for nearly 95,000 Nevadans who shop for insurance through the ACA marketplace during open enrollment.

On Nov. 1, open enrollment begins, and Nevadans who use the exchange will get to choose their health plans for next year. If nothing is done, anyone who gets insurance through Nevada Health Link will see their health care costs increase on average by 26 percent. Other studies have found that health care costs could as much as double for some hardworking families and small-business owners due to a lack of action by the GOP Congress.

These enhanced tax credits were set to expire in 2022, but Democrats took decisive action when we were in the majority in Congress to extend them through 2025. And now that Republicans are in control of Congress and the White House, it’s their responsibility to work with Democrats to extend these tax credits that will prevent health care costs from skyrocketing.

After slashing Medicaid just a few months ago with their “Big Beautiful Bill,” Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are now refusing to act to protect families’ access to health care. They’ve refused to do anything about this at any point in the past 10 months. With about two months left in the year and open enrollment coming up in a couple of weeks, we simply don’t have time to waste. We need action, and we need it now. People’s health and lives depend on it.

But Republicans in Washington would rather shut down the government than work in a bipartisan way to stop a massive spike in health-care costs for hardworking families. That’s it in a nutshell.

My motto has always been, “Agree where you can, fight where you must.” And let me be clear: Protecting Nevadans’ health care is something absolutely worth fighting for. Protecting the ACA is why Nevadans sent me to the U.S. Senate in the first place, and it’s a priority for me to make sure everyone has the dignity to see a doctor.

That’s why I’ve voted time and time again for legislation to reopen the government and extend the ACA’s enhanced tax credits. As you might’ve guessed, Senate Republicans voted it down every single time. I also helped introduce a stand-alone bill to extend these tax credits that Senate Democrats tried to pass by unanimous consent multiple times throughout the year. Those attempts were also blocked by Senate Republicans.

The bottom line: If these tax credits expire, many families won’t be able to afford their premiums, meaning they will lose their care entirely. More than 38,000 people in Nevada alone could lose their insurance. Other families are going to be forced to make impossible choices. They will be forced to delay care, skip doctor’s visits, or even cut their medication in half. Those choices have real, sometimes tragic, consequences.

As long as I’m in the Senate representing you, I will not be bullied by Donald Trump or Republicans in Congress into sacrificing the access and affordability to obtaining both insurance plans and health care for American families. Our lives and the lives of the ones we love may depend on it.

Jacky Rosen, a Democrat, represents Nevada in the U.S. Senate.