Survivors can’t afford to trade healthcare for food security

13 November 2025

After weeks of conflicting court orders and agency directives, some families began receiving their November SNAP benefits over the weekend, while millions more across the country are still waiting, uncertain when help will arrive. 

Yesterday, on November 12th, President Trump signed a funding bill that extended SNAP funding through September 2026, ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. It allows the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to release the remaining funds to all states and territories for full SNAP payments. However, when recipients see funds on their debit-like cards will likely vary by state, as some have already issued partial or full payments.  

But ending the shutdown comes at a devastating cost for survivors’ healthcare. The legislative package omits any resolution for enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits that make health coverage more affordable for millions, which are set to expire at the end of the year.  

If these subsidies expire, survivors who buy health insurance through the marketplace will see their monthly premiums more than double on average. Many survivors and their kids have “pre-existing conditions”, making private insurance more expensive without the ACA subsidies. After enduring or witnessing abuse, survivors have to live with post-traumatic stress, injuries, and chronic diseases. For survivors who rely on more affordable insurance to access the physical and mental health services they need to heal and thrive, this is catastrophic. 

Affordable health care is not a luxury—it’s safety.   

It’s a survivor learning about domestic violence shelters and resources at their yearly check-up. 

It’s a parent taking their kid to the hospital after weathering violence in their own home. 

It’s a survivor leaving an abusive spouse without fear of losing coverage.  

Without affordable coverage, survivors face impossible choices between their health and their safety.  

The crisis runs even deeper for immigrant survivors. Earlier this year, Congress summarily cut off lawfully present immigrant survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and other abuses, including those granted asylum, T visas, or VAWA relief, as well as refugees, parolees, and others from SNAP, Medicaid, Medicare, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and ACA benefits. No amount of litigation or agency discretion can fix this. It would take another act of Congress to correct this injustice.  

When survivors can’t trust that their most basic needs will be met, they are left vulnerable to further exploitation and violence. 

What you can do:  

Educate your member of Congress on the critical importance of food assistance and healthcare for all survivors and the immigrant survivors who were unjustly cut off from this lifeline earlier this year. Explain that Congress should not continue to trade healthcare security for food security. Survivors need both. No one should be forced to choose between safety and hunger, between healthcare and groceries, or be denied the support they need to escape violence simply because of their immigration status. 

 

Contact your Members of Congress now!  

  • Find out who your Senators are here and who your Representative is here.  
  • To contact your Senators and Representative by phone, call the US Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 or find their phone numbers on their websites.  
  • To contact your Senators and Representatives by email, go to their website and click on the ‘contact us’ link. 
  • Keep in mind that during a shutdown, decisions about furloughs on the Hill are made office by office. If a staffer is furloughed, they can’t respond to incoming communication.