Juan Ciscomani

Three weeks into the shutdown, there is no end in sight to the impasse over health care.

As the standoff continues, the delegation has taken divergent approaches to the messaging battle for public support.

The rhetorical battle over blame and ending the federal government shutdown is getting hotter, at least for some in Arizona’s congressional delegation.

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, wrote an open letter Oct. 21 calling on America’s insurers to fully disclose the new rates customers face with the looming expiration of health insurance subsidies, pointing to the lack of information in Arizona and across the country.

“This year, there has been a disturbing delay in the release of these notices, leaving beneficiaries in the dark about the premium hikes they will face in 2026 should the (Affordable Care Act) premium tax credits expire,” he wrote.

“This would mean many Arizonans lose some or all their tax credits, resulting in an average increase of $780 per year for individual marketplace coverage — and significantly more for families.”

The same day, Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Arizona, and 12 other vulnerable House Republicans called on House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, to "immediately turn our focus to the growing crisis of healthcare affordability" after the shutdown they blame on Democrats ends.

In between, Gallego and Ciscomani extended a war of words over the shutdown on social media.

Ciscomani highlighted a question to Gallego in which he said he was “still evaluating” keeping his next Senate paycheck even as his staff and other government workers go unpaid.

“No character. No leadership. No shame,” Ciscomani wrote.

Gallego responded by challenging Ciscomani to a town hall in his Tucson-area district on the health care issue “neutral moderators, straight answers — and see who’s really fighting for Arizonans.”

Three weeks into the shutdown, there is no end in sight to the impasse.

Republicans want to extend current spending levels in a government shrunken by mass layoffs throughout the year and have said they would take up the issue of the expiring subsidies once the shutdown is over.

Democrats are holding out to extend the pandemic-era subsidies used by about 20 million Americans and more than 300,000 Arizonans. The subsidies affect those who don’t have employer- or government-based insurance and are tied to annual income and out-of-pocket spending caps.

As the standoff continues, the delegation has taken divergent approaches to the messaging battle for public support.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, continued to highlight individual examples of the expected financial hardship on the insurance issue with videos showing his conversations with people affected by the lapsing subsidies.

One man told Kelly his family’s premiums could rise from $440 to more than $1,100 without the subsidy. A self-employed photographer told Kelly he expects his insurance bill could double and worries about the risk of bankruptcy.

“This fight isn’t about politics. It’s about millions of people keeping their health care and their peace of mind,” he wrote in a social media post about the insurance issue.

Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Arizona, ridiculed the GOP letter Ciscomani joined, saying, “These people must think their voters are stupid.”

Stanton said the same group “wrote letters pleading for Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill not to touch Medicaid & clean energy tax credits ... just to turn around and vote to decimate both.”

That is a reference to President Donald Trump’s signature domestic policy legislation that partially offset tax cuts that skewed to wealthier taxpayers and corporations with future service cuts to Medicaid and the scheduled termination of at least eight energy-related tax credits and deductions.

For his part, Ciscomani, said it is Stanton who is playing politics.

“The only ones taking orders are you and your Democrat colleagues,” he said in a social media post. “You literally voted to shut down the government because you didn’t get your way, and to appease your (Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York) base, who you’re terrified of. That’s not standing up for Arizonans — that’s standing in line for party politics.”

Ciscomani accused Kelly and Gallego again of engaging in “political theater” after Johnson ripped the Arizona senators in another social media post Oct. 21.

“House Republicans are working around the clock to help constituents navigate the Democrat Shutdown - while Democrats like (Gallego and Kelly) are busy making TikToks and staging publicity stunts in the Capitol,” Johnson wrote.

“Maybe instead of filming content and cashing their OWN paychecks, my Democrat colleagues should focus on voting for a bill that would help real Americans get THEIR paychecks.”

Rep. Eli Crane, R-Arizona, pointed to a conservative health care think tank that contends most of the increase in insurance costs is due to factors other than ending the subsidy program.

“The expiring enhanced Covid-era Obamacare subsidies are NOT responsible for premiums increasing,” said Brian Blase, the president of Paragon Health Institute. He said 97% of next year’s premiums “has nothing to do with the Covid subsidy add-ons. And even that small premium effect is for a good reason: improper and phantom enrollment would decline.”

Crane saw it as an indictment of the ACA.

“So the affordable care act (obamacare) didn’t make healthcare more affordable? And democrats are trying to lie about it? Shocker,” he wrote.