The 43-day-long federal government shutdown ended in November, but the issue at the center of it is still unresolved going into 2026.
And in the race for U.S. Senate in Ohio, incumbent Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) and Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown have already drawn battle lines over the future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010.
Without pandemic-era ACA tax credits from the federal government, health care premiums are likely to rise for the vast majority of enrollees, or more than 20 million Americans. Extending them for 10 years would raise the deficit by about $350 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
In 2025, about 513,000 Ohioans benefited from the enhanced subsidies, according to the Health Policy Institute of Ohio, which amounts to 88% of the state’s enrollees. Husted said he wants “some kind of extension” that both sides agree to, with some conditions.
“We need to make sure that only American citizens are receiving it,” Husted said in an interview in December with the Statehouse News Bureau. “If we can just get Democrats to say, hey, let’s end the thievery that we have in our health care system, then we can get the votes to extend the premium tax credits.”
The GOP-backed One Big Beautiful Bill also adds eligibility and work requirements for Medicaid and the ACA market, which could limit who gets covered.
Husted blames his opponent for the current state of the system.
“He’s hiding from his own record,” Husted said. “Every problem in the health care system is something that Sherrod Brown created over the last 32 years, he voted to end these premium subsidies in 2025, he’s the one that put the Obamacare system in place.”
Brown’s record on health care is lengthy, since he was an early and crucial backer of the ACA, or Obamacare. He then voted down numerous GOP efforts to roll it back in the following years.
He voted for legislation limiting the cost of insulin to $35 for Americans on Medicare and was a major proponent of expanding Medicaid.
And he still wants to allow some individuals, like those working in law enforcement or as firefighters, and those over the age of 50, to be able to buy into Medicare early.
“Some people won’t choose to because they have good plans,” Brown said in an interview in December with the Statehouse News Bureau. “I’m fine with that, but most people will choose to because their health insurance would then be more stable.”
Brown has blasted Husted on the trail for his nine votes against restoring the ACA subsidies.
Since announcing his intent to run in August, he’s been holding forums on health care, recently talking with one small business owner who said he can’t afford health insurance for his family without the subsidies they’ve gotten.
“He’s going to go without insurance,” Brown said. “He’s in a pretty high risk job. I don’t know how old was, he wasn’t in his 20s or 30s, and his going without insurance could cost him and his family for sure.”
