The 43-day-long federal government shutdown ended last week, but the issue at the center of the shutdown went unresolved: whether to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Without those pandemic-era ACA tax credits from the federal government, health care premiums would rise for the vast majority of enrollees, or more than 20 million Americans. And extending them for 10 years would raise the deficit by about $350 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
In 2025, about 513,000 Ohioans benefitted from the enhanced subsidies, according to the Health Policy Institute of Ohio. That amounts to 88% of the state’s enrollees.
Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) said Monday morning he wants “some kind of extension” that both sides agree to. Husted—who sits on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions—said it would need to come with other measures.
“Eliminate the fraud that we know exists in them and then fix the long term drivers of health care cost. Understand, the subsidies don’t fix the inflation, you have to do something along those lines to drive down the costs,” Husted told reporters. “I have several ideas and I’m going to outline more this week.”
Sherrod Brown, the former Democratic senator from Ohio who will face off with Husted in 2026, has established it as one key issue in the race already.
“Jon Husted has already voted against lowering health care costs,” Brown said in an email statement Monday afternoon. “Half a million Ohioans are facing higher premiums due to a health care crisis that Husted himself created.”
The GOP-led One Big Beautiful Bill added eligibility and work requirements to Medicaid and the ACA Market.
Husted made the comments during a workforce-related tour of Columbus State Community College, where he also told reporters he believed investigation files into Jeffrey Epstein should be released.
“They should protect the innocent victims, anything that would jeopardize future prosecution, but the files should be released,” Husted said.
In a shift on Sunday evening, President Donald Trump encouraged Republican members of Congress to vote to release the Epstein files, calling it a “Democrat Hoax” on Truth Social.
