With Affordable Care Act insurance at the center of a federal shutdown, Gilbert resident Steve Gomez fears what will happen to his family’s out-of-pocket health expenses in 2026.
Gomez, a 44-year-old married father of three children aged six through 11, is an independent contractor and so is his wife, which means neither gets health care through their employer. They don’t qualify for any government plans, so they purchase their own health insurance. Since 2020, the family has been covered through health insurance they buy through the government-run Affordable Care Act, ACA, marketplace.
Open enrollment for ACA plans, sometimes also called Obamacare plans, is set to begin Nov. 1. That’s just weeks away, but many unknowns remain this year for people who want ACA insurance coverage for 2026. The federal government has shut down due to a congressional impasse over a funding dispute that in part focuses on ACA insurance, which is private health insurance that includes federally funded subsidies to those who qualify.
Federal data indicates 423,025 Arizonans selected ACA plans for 2025 and about 90% of them get federal subsidies to help pay for their coverage.
But expiring enhanced ACA subsidies that began in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic under President Joe Biden, which accounted for a huge jump in ACA insurance plan enrollment, have caused a rift between Democrats and Republicans that is a core of the government shutdown.
And because health insurance companies had to post their 2026 marketplace rates before knowing the status of the enhanced subsidies, which are set to expire Dec. 31, some of the proposed rate increases are massive. KFF, an independent health policy research, polling, and news organization, says that if the enhanced subsidies expire, many marketplace enrollees
Rates for some Obamacare plans could spike
