PUEBLO — Andrea Ames said if the Democrats aren’t successful in securing an extension to the Obamacare subsidies, she’s likely to lose her health insurance coverage.
Ames spoke to KOAA while packing meals at Supermarket Gonzales near downtown Pueblo.
It’s not lost on her that the fight to keep her healthcare affordable means SNAP users are missing payments and furloughed government workers are missing paychecks.
“I want it to be worthwhile,” said Ames. “I don't want anyone to lose these benefits just so I can have healthcare, but I'm going to make up the difference with my own choices in my life because I know people are not going to get their SNAP benefits today because the government is shut down to try to get my healthcare back. So I think it's important that I build a bridge, do what I can to make up the difference.”
Even though federal judges ordered the Trump Administration to release SNAP funding this month after initially resisting, they announced they can only issue half of what is typically paid out.
Court filings this week also revealed that some states might take weeks or months to receive the payments. Ames said she and the Pueblo East Side Neighborhood Council will continue gathering food donations every week for furloughed government workers and SNAP users to pick up meals on Wednesdays.
The heart of the government shutdown, which is now in its 37th day and the longest on record, is Democrat demands to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.
The subsidies, or Enhanced Premium Tax Credits, are set to expire at the end of this year.
Without the credits, millions of Americans are likely to lose their health coverage while others are facing steep increases to their premiums. In Colorado, those using the open marketplace are expected to see costs double.
The tax credits came initially from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act and were extended through the end of 2025 by the Inflation Reduction Act.
“They were extended through the end of this year with an expectation from the very get-go that there would be conversations about how to get them extended long term,” said Colorado Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway last month. “To make sure that we were able to keep everybody covered that we've got covered over the last handful of years.”
Ames is a small business owner and has only ever used the ACA and Connect for Health Colorado to purchase her health insurance. Currently, she pays about $80 or $90 a month for insurance, but she said that cost is expected to hit $400.
“That's not something that currently I could sustain. I would have to make really hard choices,” she said. “Either I'd have to find help with my daughter so that I could go back to work and work more hours and bring in more income to cover that difference. Or I would have to become simply uninsured.”
It’s also a very personal issue for Ames. She currently has a child through adoption, but she wants to also become a biological parent at some point.
Due to health complications, she requires continual reproductive healthcare and maintenance, as she put it, which is covered by her health insurance. If she were to lose her ACA coverage or be priced out, she fears she’ll lose the opportunity to ever become a biological parent.
“It's something I wish wasn't politically divisive. I wish we all just understood that it was nice to have health care for all of us, and it's been the only way I can insure myself,” she said.
“The most frustrating aspect for me is that our health isn't a political matter. It's something that affects all of us,” she said. “When one of us is unhealthy, it has a ripple effect through the entire community. When you have a community like Pueblo where health equity is a serious issue.”
Ames lives in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, which is represented by freshman Republican Congressman Jeff Hurd.
Hurd has repeatedly said he’s willing to negotiate on extending the subsidies, but only once the government is open. Democrats have been opposed to that notion due to the limited guarantees that any legislation would ever get passed or come to a vote.
But this week, Hurd helped introduce bipartisan framework to extend the Obamacare subsidies.
Along with Reps. Don Bacon (R-NE), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), the four released a statement of principles to lower healthcare costs, extend and reform the ACA enhanced premium tax credits, and implement guardrails, income caps, and reforms.
With negotiations happening between parties in the House, it could be an indication the shutdown stalemate could at long last be coming to an end.
“I'm cautiously optimistic that we can get the government open soon and then we can get back to work right away on addressing these important issues,” said Rep. Hurd, speaking from Washington, DC. “I'm ready to hit the ground. Let's get the government open and let's get to work on addressing the cost of healthcare and also fixing healthcare more generally and addressing the more systemic problems that we have.”
Hurd said the bipartisan principles released by himself and the others can give Congress some breathing room to address long-term healthcare reform. The framework is outlined below, per a release from Rep. Hurd’s office.
Principles to Temporarily Extend and Reform Affordable Care Act Enhanced Premium Tax Credits
· Temporary: A two-year extension of APTCs
· Income Cap: An income cap phased out between $200,000 and $400,000.
· Reform: Guardrails to prevent improper payments of APTCs
- Prevent “Ghost Beneficiaries”: Requirements that ACA marketplaces confirm recipient eligibility with the Death Master File
- Crack Down on Fraud: Establish a “preponderance of evidence” standard of proof to determine when an agent or broker should be allowed to continue operating in the ACA marketplaces
- Enhance Delivery Clarity: Requirements that marketplaces better notify recipients of the value of APTCs they are receiving from the federal government
Despite big wins for Democrats across the country after this week’s elections, Hurd brushed off any suggestion it was an indictment on the job performance of President Trump or Congressional Republicans.
He said his party needed to do a better job of messaging in the coming year ahead of the midterms on issues like taxes.
And on Election Day, President Trump posted on his Truth Social platform “‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,’ according to Pollsters.”
Hurd wouldn’t address if he thought that was the president indicating that Republicans might be to blame for the shutdown.
“I'll let the president's team speak for him. What I would say is what I see on the ground, which is that the actual reality is that this is a Democratic-led shutdown,” Hurd said. “Look, Republicans did this in the past as well. We sort of wrote the book on government shutdowns and holding out and keeping the government shut down in order to get some policy wins and policy asks. I just hope that my Democratic colleagues read that book and see that it doesn't work. It doesn't work to shut down the government and hold American citizens hostage.”
An NBC News poll released this week showed 52% of respondents blamed Trump and Republicans for the shutdown, while 42% blamed Democrats in Congress.
Meantime, Democratic Senator John Hickenlooper has continued pressing Republicans and President Trump to negotiate the subsidies as a guarantee of extension before reopening the government.
“Small businesses, some with very tight margins already, are going to be forced to choose between insurance or layoffs,” said Senator Hickenlooper in a Senate floor speech last week. “Roughly 225,000 Coloradans are in that group that are going to see their premiums double. It’s so much more expensive that an estimated four million Americans will be priced out of their health care next year – including roughly 75,000 Coloradans.”
Regardless of the political fighting in Washington, Colorado residents like Andrea Ames, who find themselves at the center of the shutdown fight, said there just needs to be a solution.
“We should come together and do our best,” she said. “If we can realize that the choices they make in Washington, DC affect all of us, if we can realize that those decisions–if they don't affect you directly–might affect your neighbors and that you need to stand up and make a difference for your neighbors, then that's worthwhile. It's a good thing to do.”
Email Senior Reporter Brett Forrest at brett.forrest@koaa.com. Follow @brettforrestTV on X and Brett Forrest News on Facebook.
Brett can also communicate via encrypted apps like Signal. Due to the sensitive nature of ongoing reporting from federal actions, he is willing to take steps to protect identities.
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