RELEASE: Gottheimer Fighting to Extend ACA Tax Credits, Protect SNAP Food Assistance, and Reopen the Government

Above: At the Rock Ridge Pharmacy in Glen Rock, Gottheimer announces new action to protect families from surging health care costs and defend SNAP benefits.

GLEN ROCK, NJ — Today, October 31, 2025, at the local Rock Ridge Pharmacy, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) sounded the alarm over critical deadlines for health care and food assistance, and announced new action to end the government shutdown and protect Jersey families from skyrocketing costs. With both open enrollment for health insurance starting and federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits set to lapse tomorrow, Gottheimer’s new action will help ensure families can continue to receive critical food assistance and afford health care costs by lowering premiums. 

At the end of this year, on average, New Jersey families who sign up for insurance through the Affordable Care Act (via healthcare.gov or Get Covered New Jersey) will see an 18% average increase in their health insurance premiums. For 466,000 people across New Jersey relying on premium tax credits, the increase will average 175%, with a family of four in Bergen County facing a more than $20,000 increase next year. Seniors will see an average increase of $1,860 per person per year. Nationally, more than 4 million people, and more than 180,000 in New Jersey, risk losing their health care altogether because they simply will not be able to afford these increases. Meanwhile, SNAP benefits cover more than 800,000 people in New Jersey and nearly 42 million nationwide, with families on average receiving nearly $200 a month — a lifeline that stands to end if benefits lapse.

New Action to Extend ACA Tax Credits, Protect SNAP, & Reopen the Government:

• New Online Portal to Report Health Insurance Premium Increases: Gottheimer launched a new online portal — at gottheimer.house.gov/shutdownsurvey — for North Jersey families to share how the shutdown and rising health care costs are affecting them.

• Calling on Congressional Leadership to Address this Crisis: Gottheimer will be writing to congressional leadership in both the House and Senate highlighting how North Jersey families are being impacted by the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits expiring and by the government shutdown.

• Demanding the Trump Administration to Keep SNAP Going: Gottheimer is calling on the Trump Administration to ​​use available funds from SNAP’s contingency fund to ensure food assistance resources are available for November.
  
• President Trump & Congress Must Negotiate a Deal: Gottheimer is requesting the President immediately meet with bipartisan leaders in Congress to negotiate a deal to reopen the government, fund SNAP, and stop the expiration of the ACA credits.

Video of today’s press conference can be found here. 

“Starting tomorrow, families in Jersey will see an average health insurance premium increase of 175 percent, and SNAP benefits will lapse, meaning that food so many families rely on to feed their families every day will literally disappear. When you add that to the rising costs of everything, from groceries, to child care, to energy bills, this new tax from losing the Affordable Care Act credits will cause more than 4 million people across the country, and more than 180,000 in Jersey, to lose their health care altogether because they just won’t be able to afford these increases. Families shouldn’t have to choose between putting food on the table or paying for medication. I want every family — everyone in Jersey — to be able to afford, and to sign up for health insurance,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). “We can’t just let families get whacked by thousands of dollars in premium increases. We can’t let them lose access to SNAP. We have an opportunity to work together to prevent a financial disaster from wrecking Jersey pocketbooks. To stop families from going hungry. We must get this done. And, I’m not going to stop fighting until we do.”

“Last year, a record half-million New Jerseyans signed up for health insurance during the annual Open Enrollment Period. Today, without the enhanced premiums subsidies, they’re facing rates that on average are 175% higher. The New Jersey Hospital Association and its members are committed to ensuring that all New Jerseyans have access to the quality care they need and deserve, and health insurance is a fundamental part of that,” said NJ Hospital Association’s Kerry McKean Kelly. “We’re grateful to Congressman Gottheimer for shining a spotlight on this issue that impacts so many New Jersey families.”

Gottheimer was joined by Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco, NJ Assemblywoman Lisa Swain (LD-38), Glen Rock Councilman Seth Rosenstein, NJ Department of Banking & Insurance Commissioner Justin Zimmerman, Kerry McKean of the New Jersey Hospital Association, and Rock Ridge Pharmacy owner Vishnu Patel.

Below: Gottheimer joins NJ Assemblywoman Lisa Swain, local leaders at Rock Ridge Pharmacy to make health care more affordable and defend critical food assistance.

Gottheimer’s full remarks as prepared for delivery are below:

Good morning and Happy Halloween. It’s good to be back in Glen Rock here at Rock Ridge Pharmacy, where every day, families are taken good care of by community pharmacists, who I know give so many parents sound advice every day, whether they’re picking up medicine or getting their flu vaccine.

What’s going on right now in Washington isn’t a treat for families — stuffing higher insurance premiums and taking food right out of their Halloween goody bags. Open enrollment begins tomorrow, and Jersey families will see firsthand just how much their insurance premiums will go up at the end of the year when the ACA health care premium tax credits expire. New Jersey on average will pay up to nearly 17%. 

For 466,000 people across New Jersey, including here in Northern New Jersey — who rely on the ACA premium tax credits, also called Obamacare, Healthcare.gov, or Get Covered New Jersey, they will see an average health insurance premium increase of 175 percent. For a family of four in Jersey, we’re talking about a more than $20,000 increase next year. Seniors will see an average increase of $1,860 per person each year. You kidding? How will people be able to afford to go to a doctor, to get their prescriptions filled here, or to go to the hospital?

When you add that to the rising costs of everything, from groceries, to childcare, to energy bills, this new tax from losing the Affordable Care Act credits will cause more than 4 million people across the country, and more than 180,000 in Jersey, to lose their health care altogether because they just won’t be able to afford these increases. 

To be clear: we want people to have access to health care. But I know that 85 percent of hard-working Jersey families worry about their health care costs every day. I don’t want them to worry. I want every family — everyone in Jersey — to be able to afford, and to sign up for health insurance. I’m proud to stand with so many tireless advocates, including the New Jersey Hospital Association, who are helping families sign up to get coverage.

Let me also be clear: In the U.S., health care spending already increased about eight percent last year. And Jersey families already pay fifteen percent more than the national average for health care. That’s why we are here today to do everything we can to fight higher health insurance costs and make that a financial reality for families. Families shouldn’t have to choose between putting food on the table or paying for medication. These tax credits have made incredible progress in ensuring that’s not a choice you have to make.

Speaking of food on the table, we also have another urgent problem that will hurt thousands of children and families across Jersey. As of tomorrow, November 1, SNAP benefits will lapse, meaning that food so many families rely on to feed their families every day here in Bergen, Passaic, and Sussex Counties — plus across the state — will literally disappear. 

More than 800,000 people in New Jersey and nearly 42 million nationwide are currently at risk of losing the food assistance they need. Families on SNAP receive, on average, $187 a month to help cover groceries for children and families. This isn’t a Halloween trick. This is what happens when the President won’t sit down at the negotiating table, and figure out a way to open the government.

I’m heartened by what folks are doing to help. How many people are stepping up to donate food so that people don’t go hungry, including all of our local non-profits, food banks, and charities out there going above and beyond to help — the Community Food Bank, Center for Food Action, Demarest Farms, Table to Table, grocery stores — Wakefern and the Shop Rites, Tracy Zur. But it shouldn’t have to be this way. And I’ve been working day and night, talking to Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate, to get a deal done.

That’s why I’ve also been calling on the Speaker of the House to bring us back into session every week, so that we can get a bipartisan deal done to reopen the government, so we can fund SNAP food assistance, and stop the ACA tax credits from expiring. I have been in D.C. every week, as we all should be, to get this done. Yet, the President has refused to even have a meeting with us to discuss how to actually get a deal done. Instead, he’s continuing to stick it to families with higher costs. That’s not the art of the deal, it’s the art of stupidity. 

This is after the disastrous One Big Beautiful Bill earlier this year, or the Big F’ed Up Bill, as I like to call it — launched a direct assault on Medicaid, Medicare, and Jersey families — not to mention tariff taxes driving up prices on everything from clothes to cars and coffee.

Gutting health care for seniors, making the largest cut to Medicaid in history, and stripping critical federal dollars from our State — not exactly making America great again.

As a bipartisan problem solver, I’m announcing new action today to help get health insurance premiums down and help families who are relying on SNAP to put food on the table. 

First, with families starting to enroll in insurance plans tomorrow, and many are seeing these rising costs firsthand, I’m launching a new portal to hear directly from you. Go to gottheimer.house.gov/shutdownsurvey and tell me how the shutdown and rising health care costs are affecting you and your family. 

These are not just numbers — they are parents, seniors, and children who are getting stuck with skyrocketing costs, and their pocketbooks are getting crushed. Will you be able to afford your health care?

Next, I’ll be sending a letter to Congressional leadership in both the House and Senate with the information from all of these responses, and calling on leadership to extend the ACA premium tax credits and help protect affordable health care for families. 

With everything we know about how this is hurting families, our health care providers, and our country, we can’t just let this assistance, which is a critical lifeline for families, just expire at the end of the year. 

Third, the Trump Administration can use dollars from SNAP’s contingency fund today to help ensure families can get the resources they need in November. Yet they’re sitting on their hands. Just six billion dollars could get moved to states today. 

So, I wrote to the White House making it clear the Administration has to use the funds Congress gave them to protect families in times like this. They can also transfer money from the tariff revenue, just like they did for WIC. But we can’t just wait around and let families wonder how their children can get their next meal.

Finally, I’m calling on President Trump to have a meeting with us and negotiate a way out of this mess. I’m not pointing fingers. I just want to solve this problem. 

I believe we need to bring the Jersey fight to make it clear how devastating an impact the ACA tax credits expiring will have on New Jersey families — and what losing SNAP will do to families. There should be nothing partisan about it. That’s why I’ve said, let’s come together, fund the government in a bipartisan way, and get this done. It would be a win for our families, our health care, and our country. 

We can’t just let families get whacked by thousands of dollars in premium increases. We can’t let them lose access to SNAP. We have an opportunity to work together to prevent a financial disaster from wrecking Jersey pocketbooks. To stop families from going hungry. We must get this done. And, I’m not going to stop fighting until we do. 

These aren’t red issues or blue issues. It’s time to put politics aside, work across the aisle, and stand up for the millions of families who just want affordable health care. 

If we do that, here in the greatest country in the world, I know that our best days will always be ahead of us. 

Thank you. God bless you, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.

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