Montana is open for business, but the federal government is shut down and many Montanans are asking why. The answer is simple: Democrats in Washington have repeatedly blocked a clean funding bill to keep the government open in hopes of convincing Republicans to keep throwing taxpayer money at their failed Obamacare experiment.

After more than a month, this foolish shutdown strategy has backfired. Even large parts of the Democrats’ base are calling on them to reopen the government. The Democrats’ shutdown is just the latest undeniable proof that Obamacare is financially unsustainable and must be scrapped altogether.

Democrats argue that Obamacare will be unaffordable for many Americans without continued subsidies. Democrats are actually correct on this, but it’s not the winning argument that they think it is. Indeed, Obamacare is unaffordable without an endless and increasing flow of taxpayer money, which is exactly why Obamacare has been a failure from the very beginning.

This shutdown is the latest battle in a 16-year struggle by Democrats to place America’s health care system under federal control. In 2009, Republicans fought against Obamacare, arguing that it was a government takeover of health care and that politicians would become more involved in our health decisions. Clearly, Republicans were right all along.

Since then, health care costs have skyrocketed for both patients and the government, i.e. taxpayers. Costs overall are up by half since 2009, with costs for private insurers up by nearly one-third and for Medicare and Medicaid by one-quarter. Obamacare premiums are going up by one-quarter this year alone!

Medicaid is supposed to help the most vulnerable, but Obamacare bribed states to extend it to people well above the poverty line. Consequently, the Medicaid population doubled, forcing recipients to compete for the same limited number of health care providers who take Medicaid. This typically benefits the better-off enrollees included under the extension, who can more easily navigate the health care bureaucracy, than those who need it the most and for whom the program was intended: children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

Montana’s Medicaid expansion in 2015 ended up costing more than twice what the state projected, and enrollment exceeded projections by more than 25 percent. In the first six years of expansion in Montana, rural hospital losses nearly quadrupled, while urban hospitals saw profits increase by 25 percent. Virtually every state that has expanded Medicaid could tell a similar story of unexpected costs and enrollment, greater competition for limited resources, and more strain on rural hospitals.

Fortunately, President Trump has thrown the states — and rural hospitals in particular — a lifeline. First, he is taking action to kick illegal aliens off of Medicaid and requiring stricter checks to ensure that recipients are actually eligible. Importantly, President Trump’s new law also requires able-bodied adults on Medicaid to work, train, or volunteer at least part time. Right now, more than 60 percent of able-bodied Medicaid recipients do not work at all. In Montana it is more than 70 percent.

Many of these able-bodied enrollees would receive better insurance from their employers if they worked, both easing the burden on taxpayers and getting them better health care. It is not unreasonable to ask people to work if they can. Montana has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation at less than three percent. Pulling Medicaid recipients off the sidelines and into the workforce will make Montana’s economy even stronger and improve opportunities for health care.

Democrats don’t like work requirements because they think of work as punishment. However, statistics show that even entry-level jobs tend to lead to promotions or better jobs elsewhere. Those who can work should work; it is what’s best for Montana, it is what’s best for the Medicaid program, and it is what’s best for Americans seeking better health care.

It is shameful that Democrats are so desperate to keep Obamacare afloat with federal subsidies that they will hold the entire federal government hostage, halting critical programs and forcing our troops and public servants to work without pay. Instead of trying to keep a sinking ship above water, Obamacare should simply be scrapped.

Montana Republicans will keep fighting for conservative health care policies on the state level, and we encourage federal lawmakers to do the same. We can’t keep propping up this failed government takeover of our health care system, especially at the expense of so many other priorities. It’s time to deliver a health care system that serves the American people instead of hindering them.

Representative Jane Gillette

House District 77

Published in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, November 11, 2025
https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/opinions/guest_columnists/jane-gillette-government-shutdown-a-sign-of-obamacare-s-failure/article_ee6927ba-407e-48e6-8912-f32b6948fed0.html