The shut down should be over within 10 days. After 10 days active duty military personnel and their families will stop receiving paychecks (according to the npr program I half listened to yesterday). I don't know a single american politician that would want that on their record come reelection.
Also, My 2 cents: Obamacare isn't perfect. It's actually a really bad system. However, it is a step in the right direction. Every single other developed nation has some form of universal healthcare except america. I'm all for changing/repealing obamacare in order to put a better system in place, but holding the whole government hostage like the republicans in the house are doing is just ridiculous.
Also, Obamacare doesn't personally affect me, but it affects my sister (who has been off of our parents healthcare since she turned 26 in January) and it is actually helping her a lot, so it isn't ALL bad.