DNC launches ad campaign on health insurance costs as shutdown fight drags on

Mary Ellen McIntire, CQ-Roll Call on Oct 10, 2025

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WASHINGTON — The Democratic National Committee is getting into the ad fight over the ongoing government shutdown.

The DNC on Friday is rolling out digital spots on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, along with billboards and bus shelter ads near hospitals and clinics in a handful of Republican-held battleground House districts. The ads, shared first with CQ Roll Call, focus on notices that health insurance providers are set to send out this month detailing premium costs for 2026 plans.

“Right after the holidays, health care costs for Americans across the country are going to more than double because Republicans are refusing to work with Democrats to fix this crisis,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement. “That’s why the DNC is going to make sure families everywhere know that Republicans are about to wreck their pocketbooks and price them out of health insurance.”

Democrats have tied the ongoing federal impasse to the cost of health insurance, which is expected to rise next year for plans sold on the exchanges set up by the 2010 health care law, known as the Affordable Care Act. Barring congressional intervention, subsidies that were enhanced as part of a pandemic-era law passed by Democrats are set to expire at the end of this year.

The latest ad campaign, which is budgeted in the high five-figures, targets Republican Reps. Monica De La Cruz of Texas; Thomas H. Kean Jr. of New Jersey; Tom Barrett and John James of Michigan; Rob Wittman and Jen Kiggans of Virginia; and Brian Fitzpatrick and Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania. All eight seats are on the target list of House Democrats’ campaign arm.

The DNC is also tapping into its organizing team for a voter education campaign to reach out to infrequent voters through text messages.

“Democrats are holding the line,” the on-camera narrator says in a video ad. “They’re refusing to vote for Republicans’ twisted funding bill, because the lives and well-being of millions of Americans are at stake.”

The House and Senate campaign arms for both parties have already been airing digital ads criticizing their top midterm targets for being on the wrong side of the shutdown.

Open enrollment for exchange plans is set to begin Nov. 1 in most states, so Democrats say the subsidies should be extended before then. But Republicans counter that it can be handled closer to the end of the year.

Health care has been a top political issue for Democrats in recent years. Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC with ties to top Senate Democrats, released a Hart Research poll earlier this week that found 57 percent of voters say that preventing health insurance costs from increasing was an “essential” priority in resolving the shutdown.

“At a time when families’ budgets already are badly squeezed, Congress needs to take action now to address the rising cost of healthcare and Republicans should not shut down the government by refusing to deal with the problem,” the polling memo read.

Republican leaders have said Democrats should vote to reopen the government before they will officially consider any health care votes, although some negotiations are ongoing.

“They’re trying to make this about health care. It’s not. It’s about keeping Congress operating so we can get to health care,” Speaker Mike Johnson said at a Thursday news conference. “They’re lying to you.”