Summary
- Extend
Affordable Care Act subsidies to keep healthcare affordable. - Block
funding freezes and cuts made by the Trump administration. - Prevent
rise in uninsured rates and protect rural hospitals.
First, cuts to Medicaid and health expenditures imposed in
July must be undone by Republicans who control both the White House and the
majority in Congress. Second, as mandated by the Constitution, President Donald
Trump must carry out spending bills exactly as written. This means that Trump
cannot continue to impose restrictions on congressionally directed funding, as
he has prevented billions of dollars in congressionally allotted funds from
reaching states and agencies over the past eight months.
The shutdown that started Wednesday morning will have
far-reaching effects, including the furloughing of hundreds of thousands of
federal employees. The Oregon Employment Department expects that 10,000 of the
30,000 federal employees in Oregon may be placed on furlough. Hours may be cut
for other non-federal workers whose employment is supported by the federal
government.
Currently, no Oregon state employees are being furloughed
due to the federal government shutdown, according to Bryanna Duke, a
spokesperson for the state’s Department of Administrative Services.
“Agencies are reviewing their specific funding streams and
will continue to assess potential future impacts on the workforce if the
shutdown persists,”
she said in an email.
However, Democrats in Oregon stated
on Wednesday that if they do nothing to guarantee that Medicaid limits are
lifted and tax credits are extended to Americans who have insurance under the
Affordable Care Act, much more significant repercussions will occur. According
to several members of the delegation, the shutdown is the only method to oppose
Trump’s concentration of presidential power and is also about much larger
problems.
Despite protests from Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and
Governor Tina Kotek that the city is safe and that Portland Police has small
protests in the block around an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility
under control, Trump made the historic announcement over the weekend that he
would order Oregon National Guard troops deployed to Portland to guard federal
buildings.
More than 111,000 Oregonians who buy health insurance
through the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace will pay significantly more
for their plans next year unless the tax credits are extended, and nearly
35,000 will lose all financial help paying for monthly premiums and
out-of-pocket costs. Across the country, without the tax credits, Americans who
buy health plans through ACA marketplaces will see costs rise an average of 75%
next year, according to analysis from KFF, a health policy
organization.
“Democrats weren’t asking for a lot, but I think what we are
asking for are things that really matter to Americans, right, and certainly to
Oregonians,”
said Rep. Andrea Salinas, a Democrat representing Oregon’s 6th
District in the Willamette Valley.
Her constituents who buy health insurance on the state’s
marketplace could see their premiums increase by as much as $1,500 per month
next year if the federal tax credits aren’t extended, she said.
“That’s a lot of money,”
Salinas said.
“That could make the
difference of either having health care or not having health care. We’re in a
position right now where we’re just trying to make sure that people can get the
health care that they need. That’s it. Yeah, it’s pretty plain and
simple.”
Other members of the delegation said that the shutdown is
about pushing back on President Donald Trump’s growing consolidation of
executive power.
“Over the last nine months, Trump has consistently violated
the Constitution, separation of powers and checks and balances, and we see it
in so many different ways,”
Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, said in a
news conference Wednesday morning.
“We are in the most perilous moment for our
constitution since the Civil War. We have never seen such a combination of
attacks on our freedom of expression and our freedom of press, and our freedom
of assembly. We’ve never seen such attacks on our universities and our law
firms. We’ve never seen such a militarization, or weaponization, of our
Department of Justice to go against folks that Trump doesn’t like.”
For Rep. Maxine Dexter, of Oregon’s Portland-based 3rd
Congressional District, the shutdown is also about a check on Trump’s
power.
“Authoritarianism begins when Congress becomes a rubber
stamp. I will not be part of that. I’m fighting for a government funding bill
that protects health care, lowers costs and includes ironclad protections to
rein in Trump’s power,”
she said in a statement.
“During this shutdown, my office will remain fully
operational. I encourage any Oregonian who needs assistance to contact my
office.”
How would extending ACA tax credits affect Oregon residents?
If Congress does not extend these tax credits, many
Oregonians could end up paying premiums twice what they currently do. A single
person making $28,000 a year, for example, would have to pay about 1% of income
($325) per year in premiums with the tax credits in effect but nearly 6%
($1,562) without the tax credits. That’s an additional amount of $1,238 per
year.
Almost 35,000 people enrolled in the Oregon marketplace,
many of whom bring in up to 400% of the federal poverty level, would lose their
tax credits and would see their average monthly premiums increase by about $127
to $456 beginning in 2026.
Currently, over 111,000 Oregonians receive premium tax
credits that allow them to afford private insurance. If Congress does not
approve the tax credit extensions, many people will simply drop their coverage,
as they will not be able to afford it.
