For those that are unaware, the longest shutdown in US history is officially over. To quickly bring you all up to speed, the US federal government must approve an operating budget annually (usually, it is confirmed before October 1st of every year). However, every once and a while, Congress – the people who vote on the budget – will disagree, and if the budget isn’t approved, then the government will shut down due to a lapse in funding. That’s what happened on October 1, 2025, and this shutdown lasted for 44 days (the previous record holder for longest shutdown was 35 days, back in 2018 – 2019).

Originally, this year’s budget disagreement centered on the expiration of Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits. These are set to expire on December 31, 2025, and these tax credits are what make it possible for health insurance through the ACA to be affordable. The expiration would mean that insurance costs would skyrocket for those that have insurance through the ACA. These credits are based on household income, and, considering the cost of living for most Americans, the credits are the only thing that have made healthcare insurance affordable and accessible. Many have remarked over how the insurance costs will double for most people that previously qualified for the credits. If the credits aren’t extended, insurance will likely be cost prohibitive for most of the families currently using insurance providers through the ACA Marketplace.

However, this temporary budget was passed without resolving the ACA expiration issue. As a result, the government reopened, and healthcare costs will increase drastically, starting on January 1, 2026. Elected officials who agreed to the temporary budget said that they did so because they were “promised” that the ACA issue will be revisited and resolved at a future date. It appears this whole shutdown was an exercise in futility: a complete disruption of government functions ended on a “promise” that is unlikely to materialize as expected. After getting this temporary solution, we may be facing furloughs again in January, when the current deal expires.

It’s a disappointing situation all the way around: so many people went without their salary, experienced disturbances in their government benefits, and were impacted by government closures, only for the proverbial can to be kicked further down the road. This was an expensive and careless exercise, it it doesn’t seem wise that these officials accepted a “promise” as a fair compromise for the precarious situation millions of Americans experienced this past 44 days. So, while I wish this was the end of the shutdown discussions, I anticipate I will be returning to this topic in a couple of months. Here’s hoping that the next few weeks will be a productive period for Congress, and that they will unite to ensure that Americans can continue to receive affordable healthcare rates.