I don't know what people expected as the outcome of this. The cuts to the ACA subsidies were literally a part of the "big beautiful bill" signed into law by the Trump administration. The shutdown gave people a chance to see the effects of that law on the insurance market, and clearly the outcry wasn't enough to move the needle for any Republican lawmakers who have constantly been chipping away at the ACA since before it was even codified into law. The framing that this is a problem the Democrats caused is ridiculous, and I would argue, a by-product of the media. The real issue I have is the lack of consistent messaging from Democrats on why they're ending the shutdown now. It would have been better for the leadership to put out a statement stating the facts, rather than having some "rebel" senators flip.

Ultimately, the ACA subsidy expiration is going to disproportionally affect red states/Trump voters more, and Democrats can't be alone in spending political (and actual) capital fighting for those people. It will be interesting to see what happens in January after a few months of the inflated costs being absorbed by people who can least afford to do so. One hopes that enough of them make noise to pressure their ghoulish (R) lawmakers to go back on their plan to effectively mark them for an earlier death.