As Americans increasingly face rising healthcare costs, a new ad campaign is targeting Republican members of Congress over their refusal to extend tax credits that have helped lower insurance premiums for tens of millions of Americans. This issue has contributed to the ongoing government shutdown, which has now entered its third week.
The ad campaign was organized by a coalition of progressive advocacy groups, including Public Citizen, Indivisible, MoveOn, Fair Share America, People for the American Way, the American Federation of Teachers, SEIU, the National Education Association, and Working Families Power. The ads are scheduled to appear in each issue of Axios’ “Hill Leaders” newsletter this week, which is primarily distributed to individuals working on Capitol Hill.
Sponsors of the campaign hope that members of Congress and their staff will see the ads and take action to “stand firm in defense of healthcare,” even as the Trump administration continues what they describe as “cruel and wholly unnecessary firings” beyond traditional shutdown furloughs. The ads accuse Republicans of shutting down the government due to a lack of interest in maintaining affordable healthcare for millions of Americans.
“Republicans have shut down the government because they have no interest in keeping healthcare affordable for millions of Americans,” the ads state. “Doubling insurance premiums is not what Americans need. Enough is enough! We must fight to save healthcare.”
The government shutdown began at the start of October after Democrats refused to support a GOP funding bill that did not include an extension of Biden-era tax credits for the more than 24 million Americans who purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace.
If these tax credits expire at the end of 2025, KFF estimates that average insurance premiums for recipients could more than double, from $888 to $1,906 per year. According to the Congressional Budget Office, this would result in approximately 4 million people losing their insurance due to unaffordability. This projection comes on top of the estimated 10 million people who may lose coverage due to the GOP’s cuts to Medicaid and other ACA marketplace spending under a recent budget law.
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, stated: “Across the country, Americans are urging their representatives to push back against Trump’s destructive agenda and fight for a budget that protects access to healthcare and safeguards Congress’ authority over federal spending.”
The campaign coincides with new data showing that healthcare inflation has more than doubled in the nine months since President Donald Trump took office, compared to the previous two years. Between January and August 2025, the Consumer Price Index for medical care rose by 3.8%, compared to a 1.8% increase between January 2023 and January 2025.
A September Fox News poll revealed that 52% of voters believe Trump has worsened the economy, while only 30% think he has improved it. Additionally, 81% of respondents said healthcare costs were a problem for their families, with 51% calling it a “major problem.”
According to a report from the Groundwork Collaborative, these price increases are already affecting households before most of the changes from the OBBBA are set to take effect.
In addition to higher insurance premiums, the legislation’s cuts to Medicaid threaten hundreds of rural hospitals and nursing homes with closure. The law also repeals part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act that allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices, which have risen significantly this year. New restrictions prevent Medicare recipients from accessing additional financial aid for premiums and co-pays, with $535 billion in potential cuts to the program scheduled to take effect over the next decade unless Congress intervenes.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration ended a rule that would have removed $49 billion in medical debt from the credit reports of about 15 million people, potentially improving their ability to obtain credit. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also terminated a program offering free COVID-19 vaccinations to uninsured Americans and is reportedly seeking to remove them from the recommended vaccination schedule, which could affect insurance coverage.
Maurice Mitchell of Working Families Power, one of the ad campaign sponsors, emphasized: “It’s important that voters know that Republicans would rather shut down the government than lower healthcare costs for our families.”
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