• The Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits have become a sticking point in the government shutdown standoff.
• Republicans have claimed that Democrats are pushing to provide government benefits to undocumented immigrants, a claim that Democrats have rebuked.
• The government will shut down at midnight unless lawmakers reach a deal beforehand.

An impasse over health care funding has put the federal government on track to shut down in a matter of hours.

The Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits — which millions of Americans have relied on since 2021 — have become a sticking point in the standoff.

Those enhanced credits, which were implemented amid the Covid-19 pandemic, lower the cost of health-insurance premiums paid by Obamacare enrollees and expand their eligibility requirements.

The subsidies are due to expire at the end of the year. Democrats are pressing Republicans, who hold narrow majorities in the House and Senate, to codify an extension of the credits into legislation to keep the government from shutting down starting Wednesday.

Republicans, however, insist that any discussions over extending the subsidies should take place after the shutdown crisis is averted.

That tension has raised questions over the future and cost of health care for the roughly 22 million Americans who rely on the subsidies.

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