February 2026 | Derek DeLia, Joel Cantor, Bingxiao Wu | Can Consumers Find Lower Prices in Consolidated Healthcare Markets? Healthcare Affordability & Price Transparency
The recent 43-day federal government shutdown was driven most prominently by disagreements over healthcare affordability. The immediate impasse centered on expiring pandemic-era subsidies for health insurance in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Health Insurance Exchanges. Without these enhanced subsidies, consumers in New Jersey and nationwide face a more than doubling of their insurance premiums, with many experiencing even greater increases.
At the time of this writing, Congress is still debating whether to extend the subsides or replace them with what Republicans are calling “direct payments” to consumers. Such payments would involve depositing money into Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), which consumers can use to purchase health services and products on a tax-free basis. HSAs are often paired with high-deductible health plans and are part of an approach called consumer-driven healthcare.