The federal government will shut down on Wednesday if Congressional Democrats and Republicans cannot reach an agreement on a vital funding bill. Congressional Democrats want to restore cuts to healthcare as part of a spending plan, while Republicans are looking for a stop-gap measure to keep the government operating.
Some Democratic lawmakers in the state think the battle over health care is worth it.
State Sen. Jake Oliveira, D-Ludlow, said subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which is a form of financial help that can lower the cost of health insurance, is at risk of disappearing.
"If ACA subsidies aren't extended, that could mean the loss of health insurance for nearly 19,000 Massachusetts residents starting January 1st, or they would be paying out of pocket such a high rate that they might as well pay the penalty instead of getting covered,” Oliveira said.
Oliveira said the Republican-sponsored bill passed during the summer of 2025 was just the “tip of the iceberg” in terms of rollbacks.
“We've already seen this president weaponize the federal government against his political enemies. And top of that list are states that didn't vote for him like Massachusetts. So weaponizing things that go to support Massachusetts residents is always a concern,” Oliveira said.
State Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton said the effects of the healthcare rollbacks could lead to economic devastation in Massachusetts.
“If we allow these bills to go into effect as they're written, it's going to take 10 to 12 to maybe 15 to 20 years to get back to where we currently are in terms of the number of people covered at a rate that is affordable,” Sabadosa said.
Sabadosa said a shutdown isn’t ideal, but seems necessary in this case.
“It causes an untold amount of pain and is extraordinarily expensive every time it happens,” Sabadosa said. “Right now, it's important to understand that the reason many of the Democrats are trying to hold out and pushing for negotiations around the the spending bill, because the devastation that will be rained down on all of the states if we don't repeal and change some of the issues that were in the big beautiful bill,”
The House recently passed a spending plan, but it did not have the necessary 60 votes in the Senate setting up the showdown over federal government funding.
