Knox County Democrats on the Government Shutdown and Healthcare Crisis
What's Happening
The federal government is about to shut down at midnight tonight. Republicans control Congress but need Democratic votes to keep it open. Talks have broken down over healthcare. Democrats won't support a spending bill that ignores the health insurance crisis facing millions of Americans.
Why Democrats Are Fighting
Democrats want to keep the tax credits that help people afford health insurance. These credits have made insurance cheaper for four years but expire at the end of this year. Without them, insurance costs will jump 114% for nearly everyone.1
This means Tennessee's 642,000 ACA enrollees could see their monthly premiums more than double, from an average of $74 per month to $159 per monthpotentially forcing many families to drop coverage due to unaffordable costs.
What Republicans Say vs. What Trump Did
House Speaker Mike Johnson says the healthcare debate can wait until December 31st. Republicans want a "clean" spending bill without addressing healthcare.
But insurance companies need answers now to set 2026 prices. Tennessee insurers are already planning 35% price increases, some as high as 41%.
Instead of working to find a solution to keep the Government open, President Trump is threatening Americans jobs by stating he’ll use a shutdown to fire federal workers – and then he’s used AI to make fun of Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries with fake accents and racist images pushing lies on what this fight is about.
How This Hurts Tennessee
People Losing Coverage:
Experts predict 4 million Americans could lose coverage in the first year, meaning up to 100,000 Tennesseans on marketplace healthcare could lose their insurance completely.
Skyrocketing Costs:
Insurance companies want to raise prices by an average of 35% in Tennessee for 2026. Meaning, people who now pay $46 per month could see their bills jump to over $600 per month, more than 13x higher.
Rural Hospitals in Crisis
When people lose insurance, they still get sick and need medical care. But they can't pay for it. This creates what's called "uncompensated care", when hospitals treat people but don't get paid.
Tennessee hospitals would face $378 million more in unpaid bills
Rural hospitals across Tennessee will be forced to close, leaving entire communities without healthcare
Republicans Choose Politics Over People
Instead of working together to protect Tennesseans' healthcare, Senate Republicans are willing to shut down the government, shutting important programs that help struggling families like SNAP (food stamps), WIC (nutrition help for mothers and babies), and Head Start programs, and even threatening to fire federal workers.
Republicans won't even talk about extending the help that makes health insurance affordable for hundreds of thousands of Tennessee families. These aren't just political debates. These are decisions about whether working Tennesseans can afford to see a doctor, whether rural hospitals can stay open, and whether families will have to choose between health insurance and food.
What You Can Do
Call our senators and tell them to:
Put politics aside and work across the aisle to keep the government funded
Extend ACA subsidies to keep insurance affordable
Protect rural hospitals from closing
Senator Marsha Blackburn
(202) 224-3344 | blackburn.senate.gov/email-me
Senator Bill Hagerty
(202) 224-4944 | hagerty.senate.gov/contact
Tennessee families can't afford to wait while politicians play games with their healthcare.
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