Health care access in this country is in grave danger — and your wallet could be, too. Those facts are key to understanding the latest government shutdown.

“My kids have health care through Medicaid — which is especially important for my daughter with autism,” Alexis Cortes, a mom of four, told me. But “the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ calls for massive cuts to Medicaid, food assistance, and early childhood education programs,” she warns.

Also at issue are the 24 million Americans who benefit from the soon-to-expire tax credits that help them afford their health coverage on the Affordable Care Act marketplace. Around 2 million of those affected live in California. When Republicans passed their tax cuts for billionaires and corporations in this summer’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, they

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