The expiration of Affordable Care Act tax credits became the main sticking point during the government shutdown, highlighting just how many people use them.

NORFOLK, Va. — More than 50,000 people in Hampton Roads utilize health insurance tax credits to help offset the cost of healthcare, according to available data analyzed by 13News Now. 

The extension of Affordable Care Act Tax Credits became the primary point of contention surrounding the weeks-long federal government shutdown. 

Without congressional intervention, the credits are set to expire by year’s end, raising the price of healthcare premiums for users reliant on the credits and potentially disrupting healthcare coverage across the country. 

Dr. Susan Girois, Director of the Norfolk Health Department, raised the alarm to Norfolk City Council this week in an overview of concerns surrounding both the credits and the city’s population reliant on Medicaid. 

“We are not talking about the poorest [populations]. This is the middle class, entrepreneurs and business owners who are really at high risk now,” Girois told 13News Now. 

Through a CityWork open data portal, Girois revealed that 5,841 residents in Norfolk alone are reliant on tax credits to help offset the cost of healthcare coverage; a smaller subset of those who are in the ACA marketplace overall. 

“In 2023, there were $31 million of these premium tax credits flowing into Norfolk. 31 million is a lot. If that goes away, that’s money not flowing into our own economy,” she added.

13News Now analyzed the tax credit data across all zip codes in coastal Virginia. Some geographic areas, including military installations and certain neighborhoods of Hampton Roads, did not have enough data to provide information.

However, of the more than 50 zip codes that had data on record, 50,659 people are shown to have used tax credits. 

Because some zip codes overlap localities, some cities cannot be localized in their entirety. However, the data shows at least 18,000 people rely on health insurance tax credits in Virginia Beach, and more than 8,000 rely on them between the localities of Chesapeake and Portsmouth.

Zip code 23464, encompassing the neighborhoods of Homestead and Bellany Manor, reports as the zip code with the highest number of tax credit recipients in the region. 

The peninsula, when including the cities of Newport News, Hampton, Poquoson, York County and Williamsburg, revealed more than 12,000 people reliant on tax credits.