Senator Dayna Polehanki

Senator Dayna Polehanki

21 hours ago

Here’s why there is a government shutdown in Washington D.C. and here’s how it is GOING to affect YOU if you are one of the 450,000 Michiganders that have an affordable health insurance plan under the Affordable Care Act, sometimes called Obamacare or Michigan’s Health Insurance Marketplace.

If you have a health insurance plan in Michigan that you got through the Health Insurance Marketplace, in just about a week, starting November 1st, during Open Enrollment, you’re going to either be renewing the health insurance plan you already have or some of you will be trying to get a plan for the first time.

Either way, your payments are going to go up A LOT. If you already have a plan, the estimates I’ve seen project that plans will double or even triple in cost. This will mean that many of you are just not going to be able to pay to have health insurance and will have to drop it.

This makes me mad. And sad. We are the richest country in the world, but we can’t seem to get it together to provide affordable health insurance for people who work long hard hours to try to live healthy and dignified lives.

The reason this is happening is the reason why there is currently a government shut down.

President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill DOES NOT RENEW the funding mechanism that makes the Marketplace Health Insurance plans affordable for you.

The Democrats in Congress are demanding that the funding mechanism that allowed your health insurance plan to be affordable -- be renewed, as it is set to expire at the end of this year, while the Republicans in Congress along with President Trump want to let the funding expire.

For these reasons, I voted YES today on Senate Resolution 81, here in the Michigan Senate, that will be sent to President Trump, the President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the members of the Michigan Congressional delegation.

The resolution urges Congress and the President to permanently extend the funding that makes health insurance affordable for around 450,000 Michiganders.

All my senate democratic colleagues voted yes on the resolution and nearly all my senate republican colleagues voted no.

NOTE: In response to potentially devastating Medicaid cuts from the OBBB, we implemented safeguards in our state budget to preserve federal matching funds that are essential to ensuring health care access, especially for those in rural areas. In short, Medicaid/Healthy Michigan are protected. ... See MoreSee Less

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