The financial support that Americans rely on to stay healthy and feed their families is currently facing enormous uncertainty. Regardless of the outcome of lawsuits and emergency declarations, November 1, 2025 will go down as one of the darkest days in recent American history.
As of today, Congress and the Administration will no longer provide the financial support that millions of hardworking Americans rely on to pay for health care and buy food. This will cause an unimaginable amount of suffering in our country. But as the government shutdown continues with no end in sight, no one is home in Washington.
Our leaders are completely ignoring the American people. It’s an outrage. Great nations do not allow their people to remain sick or go hungry.
I worked as a pediatrician in community clinics across the country for 30 years. I saw exactly why most Americans can’t stomach our broken health care system. Far too many people have no coverage at all. Even those who do still face such incredibly high costs that some are forced to delay or skip medical care altogether. No matter how hard my patients’ families worked, many still couldn’t afford care, not to mention other essentials like eggs, milk, and bread.
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The government shutdown means families across America are struggling to pay their bills. (iStock)
Leaders in Washington are supposed to improve the system. Instead, they make it much worse.
More than 24 million people rely on health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Farmers and ranchers, small business owners, people with disabilities, and the self-employed all receive health care coverage through these plans.
For years, the federal government has provided tax breaks to significantly reduce the price of their health care plans, saving people an average of $800 per year.
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For working families, an extra $800 means paying the rent and buying food. Thanks to these tax credits, more Americans are insured than ever before. An overwhelming majority of Americans want this support to continue.
But Congress has eliminated the tax breaks on which America’s communities depend, even as insurance premiums soar. If you and your family get into this mess, your health care may now become unaffordable. But no help comes.
Washington’s leaders continue to play games with people’s lives and weaponize their basic needs. They have failed communities like yours. This is not what greatness looks like.
As leaders in Washington allow health care costs to skyrocket, they are also allowing American communities to go hungry.
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More than 40 million Americans rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The vast majority of participants are children, seniors, veterans and people with disabilities. Few programs are as effective as SNAP in reducing poverty and improving health.
But for the first time in the program’s history, the federal government is not paying out SNAP benefits. When some participants check their balance today, they see zero dollars. The government has a $5 billion emergency fund for SNAP that it refuses to use. The risk of hunger will increase immediately. The pressure on food banks, which is already considerable, will increase exponentially. People will rightly wonder how to feed themselves and their families.
For working families, an extra $800 means paying the rent and buying food. Thanks to these tax credits, more Americans are insured than ever before. An overwhelming majority of Americans want this support to continue.
Let’s be clear about what’s happening. The president is a billionaire. Members of Congress have an average net worth about twelve times that of the average American. And just months after passing legislation called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which will cause millions of people to lose coverage, they are taking away both health care and food assistance from millions more. It’s the definition of cruelty.
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When I was a pediatrician, some of my patients lived in motel rooms because their parents couldn’t afford apartments, even though they worked multiple jobs. Others went hungry because they did not have enough food. That kind of pain will now spread further across the country. It will impact people like Erin Jackson-Hill, an Alaska resident who works multiple jobs but can no longer afford health insurance without the tax credits. Or Casey McBlain, a single mother in Maine who relies on SNAP and is now delaying payments on her electric and credit card bills to feed her children.
Hardworking Americans who play by the rules and do everything the right way should not be punished this way. Nearly all Americans agree that your health should not depend on where you live or how much money you make. But the government and Congress have decided to take away people’s health care and food.
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Helping people afford health care and food should not be a political battle. The solutions are very simple. Free up SNAP emergency reserves now to help families in urgent need of food assistance. Congress must also work together to end this shutdown, fully fund lifesaving nutrition assistance programs, and expand the tax credits that help keep Americans healthy.
Instead, Washington’s leaders continue to play games with people’s lives and weaponize their basic needs. They have failed communities like yours. This is not what greatness looks like.
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As a doctor and an American, I am ashamed. Given the level of pain that millions of Americans will experience, I know I am far from alone.
