Share how the ongoing US government shutdown could affect your access to food or health insurance

. UK edition

a group of men in camouflage uniforms picking red apples out of a brown cardboard bin
California national guard members sort apples to be packed into food boxes at the LA Regional Food Bank on 29 October in Los Angeles, California. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

We’re interested to hear how the looming pause of Snap benefits, as well as rising insurance costs due to a loss of subsidies, could affect Americans

More than 40 million Americans will stop receiving food stamps on 1 November, as the US government shutdown enters its fifth week.

The Department of Agriculture says the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) will be suspended until Congress reopens the government. While the Trump administration argues the department does not have the legal authority to use a $5bn contingency fund to continue the aid, Democrats disagree, and two dozen states have sued the government to force the program to continue.

Meanwhile, Democrats are also refusing to vote to end the shutdown because health insurance costs are set to go up dramatically as insurers prepare for a lapse in subsidies. Senate Democrats are demanding that any short-term government funding deal include an extension of the enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans, while Trump and the Republicans have said they will not negotiate until the government is back up and running. Extending the subsidies would require $350bn in federal spending over the coming decade.

We’d like to hear from Americans who are about to lose Snap food assistance due to the shutdown, as well as from people whose healthcare may become unaffordable due to rising premiums. Have you received any notices or paperwork that your insurance will change soon? Tell us.

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