This month marked the end of Open Enrollment. Now, the nearly 22 million Americans who Trump and Republicans hit with doubled, tripled, and quadrupled health premiums are forced to make gut-wrenching decisions. Those who can’t afford to go without insurance or downgrade coverage, like Krista from California, are moving into RVs to grapple with the GOP premium hikes and rising housing costs. Farmers, like Daniel from Kentucky, already reeling from the costs of being caught in Trump’s trade wars, face a double whammy as the GOP doubled their health premiums. Parents, like Nicole from South Carolina, are forgoing coverage to afford insurance for their children, gambling that a medical emergency doesn’t wipe out their lifesavings. Already, more than one million Americans like Nicole have dropped Affordable Care Act coverage entirely — a number that will continue to snowball as the Trump-GOP premium hikes force more and more financial trade-offs on families already stretched to the brink in Donald Trump’s unaffordable America.
The following 16 accounts — along with the over 200 collected testimonies — come from hard-working Americans that the GOP decided to screw over to bankroll their tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations.
Arizona
Kate, 37, Tempe
- “Kate Bivona, a 37-year-old musician and teacher in Tempe, Arizona, was shocked when she saw the new 2026 premiums for the health insurance plan that she and her husband used in 2025. Last year, the couple was paying $118 per month for the silver-tier plan on the Healthcare Marketplace […]. Now, that cost would be more than $400, an amount their roughly $50,000 combined annual income couldn’t absorb.”
- “‘I felt angry and really worried,’ she told The Independent via email. ‘Our 2025 plan went up nearly $300 per month, and my husband and I are freelance musicians/teachers with low income, so we don’t have that kind of extra money.’” [The Independent]
California
Krista, 42, Santa Cruz County
- “Krista, a 42-year-old photographer and videographer in Santa Cruz County, relies on costly monthly intravenous treatments for a rare blood disorder. Last year, she paid about $285 a month for a Covered California plan. In late December, she received a notice showing her premium would rise to more than $1,200 a month.”
- “‘It terrified me. I thought, how am I ever going to retire?’ she asked. ‘What’s the point?’”
- “To cut costs and preserve the ability to save for retirement and eventually afford a place of her own, Krista decided to move into an RV on private land.”
- “‘Nobody asks to be sick,’ Krista said. ‘No one should have their life ruined because they get diagnosed with a disease or break a leg.’” [Los Angeles Times]
Mikayla Tencer, 29
- “The 29-year-old content creator in San Francisco paid $168 a month last year for a Blue Shield health plan through Covered California. This year — without enhanced federal subsidies that expired at the end of December — that same plan would have cost $299 a month, with higher copays.”
- “‘People assume that because I’m young, I can just pick the cheapest plan and not worry about it,’ Tencer said. ‘But I do need regular care, especially for mental health.’” [Los Angeles Times]
Jayme Wernicke, 34, Chico
- “Jayme Wernicke, a 34-year-old receptionist and single mother in Chico who earns about $49,000 a year, said she was transferred from Medi-Cal to a Covered California Anthem Blue Cross plan at the end of 2023. Her premium rose from about $30 a month to $60, then jumped to roughly $230 after the subsidies expired.”
- “‘For them to raise my health insurance almost 400% is just insane to me,’ Wernicke said.”
- “Wernicke dropped her own coverage and plans to pay for care with cash, calculating that the state tax penalty is less than the cost of premiums. Her daughter remains insured.” [Los Angeles Times]
Delaware
Kathryn Buchovecky, 64
- “Their monthly premium remained affordable even on a limited income, she said, because they qualified for some enhanced premium tax credits, which Congress passed in 2021 during the pandemic. However, that changed this past fall when the couple had to shop for 2026 coverage without the federal tax credits […] To keep their current plan, Buchovecky told her husband it would cost them nearly $3,000 a month.”
- “‘We went back and forth and back and forth and I just didn’t want to do it. I’m like, screw it,’ she said. ‘But he was getting so worked up about, “If something happens to you, like, what am I supposed to do?” I think I signed up at 11:58 p.m. the last day, because I was just so angry.’” [WHYY]
Kentucky
Daniel Edwards, Paducah
- “Daniel Edwards, a McCracken County row crop farmer, is part of that population and benefited from the subsidies. He said his premiums almost doubled, so he switched to a cheaper insurance plan.”
- “‘That means my deductible is going to be higher. That means it’s ultimately going to come more out of my pocket, but my premium each month is less,’ Edwards said.”
- “‘The way it affects me is we’ve got depressed grain prices as it is, and if they’re wanting more money for health insurance, that just means my dollar goes less and less,’ Edwards said. ‘I couldn’t afford $900 a month out of my pocket, as I’m trying to take care of a family at home as well.’” [WPSD Local6]
Noah Hulsman, 37, Louisville
- “When Noah Hulsman, who owns a skate shop in Louisville, Kentucky, learned he no longer qualified for federal subsidies to help him pay for his ‘gold’ Affordable Care Act health plan, the 37-year-old opted for skimpier coverage. But the deductible is about a quarter of his yearly income.”
- Hulsman didn’t consider dropping health insurance, because Kentucky has limited consumer protections for medical debt. But he said he’ll try to get an estimate if he needs to go to a doctor. And he’s worried that a major accident could wipe out his skate shop. He won’t be able to buy inventory or pay shop bills if he has to meet his full deductible, he said.
- “‘I’m just riding the line right now,’ the skateboarder said. ‘One slip and it’s gonna be uncomfortable.’” [CBS News]
Maine
Kristin Fuhrmann-Simmons, 51
- “Kristin Fuhrmann-Simmons, 51, saw her insurance premium skyrocket this year — had she kept her old plan, her family’s monthly payment would have gone from $11 to more than $2,000. […] Instead, she and her husband purchased a less comprehensive marketplace plan, one that covers the two of them and their eldest daughter, who is 23. […] The deductible is $7,500 per person; they’re still paying $500 a month.”
- “‘There’s nothing else to cut away. There’s no other pound of flesh to take,’ she said. ‘I’m hopeful that it is not the new normal — that people won’t play with my life as if it’s some sort of chip in their political game.’” [The 19th]
Pennsylvania
Tom and Carol Shaw, 63, York County
- “The couple’s new coverage would cost — with a subsidy from the federal government — $1,090 a month […] But nothing prepared them for what they would face when they went to re-enroll in their insurance coverage for 2026.”
- “For the same coverage – a policy that would cover Carol’s healthcare needs – the premium would jump to $3,505 a month, largely due to Congress allowing federal subsidies under the Affordable Care Act to expire.”
- “They had to take a hard look at their household budget and find places to cut expenses. ‘There were things we wanted to do in retirement,’ Carol said. ‘We spent years saving for retirement to do some fun things. Now it’s all going for health care.’”
- “‘I really feel for people who can’t, people who have to make the choice between paying the rent and buying groceries or paying for health insurance. It has to be frustrating for people: Do I get food or do I get medicine?’” [York Daily Record]
South Carolina
Nicole Wipp, 54, Aiken
- “And when Nicole Wipp learned the monthly premium for her family’s ACA plan would be more than their mortgage payment, she and her husband decided to drop their family plan and buy coverage only for their 15-year-old son.
- “After crunching the numbers, Wipp, 54, a self-employed lawyer in Aiken, South Carolina, said she and her family made the tough call. ‘We decided that, ultimately, it would be better for us to gamble.’” [CBS News]
Tennessee
Loretta Forbes, 56, Nashville
- “Forbes, the woman with rheumatoid arthritis near Nashville, had been on an ACA marketplace plan since 2018. But this year she and her husband, Jim, dropped their coverage after learning the monthly premium would jump from $250 to $2,500 because the enhanced subsidies expired. Jim, 59, gave up his handyman business and began searching for a job with health insurance.”
- “We were like: ‘OK, we can’t breathe. We’re gonna tap out,’ said Forbes, who was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2021. Last year she lost her job at a retirement facility because she couldn’t work after she had a hysterectomy.” [CBS News]
Virginia
Rena Bumbray-Graves, 63
- “Last year, she purchased health insurance for both herself and her husband through the individual marketplace, paying just over $500 per month. She received a letter this month notifying her about her change in payment due. To keep their insurance, she would pay more than $1,300 each month.”
- “Home care work typically doesn’t come with insurance benefits, something true of many other professions that predominantly employ women of color, such as nail salon work. The women who make up those professions are now more likely to be struggling to find insurance they can afford.” [The 19th]
West Virginia
Lenny and Mandee Wilson, 47, Charleston
- “Lenny and Mandee Wilson, who are 47 years old and live in Charleston, W.Va., paid $255 a month last year for a low-end ACA plan. Late last year, they learned their bill would be going up to $2,155 a month, a sum nearly triple their monthly mortgage payment of about $760.”
- “The Wilsons each squeezed in one last checkup before the end of 2025 and are now going without insurance. They are planning to put the money they used to spend on their premiums into an emergency fund. They will avoid any preventive care and hope their modest savings can cover any medical costs.”
- “‘If we step off the ladder wrong and make a trip to the ER or have to spend the night in the hospital for any reason, that would pretty much wipe us out financially,’ Lenny said.” [The Wall Street Journal]
Washington
Rebecca Nystrom
- “Nystrom, who has worked as an independent therapist in Bremerton since 2022, does not have an option for employer-based insurance. Instead, she has purchased the coverage her family needs through the Washington Healthplanfinder, an online marketplace run by the state. […] Her annual premium rose this year by well over 200%, to a monthly rate of $2,380. Her lowest option for a deductible also doubled, rising to $1,000, meaning she must pay more out of pocket.”
- “‘I don’t know what we will do,’ Nystrom said, noting she has considered going without insurance herself to keep her family covered or even taking a part-time job on the weekend for insurance benefits.” [Gig Harbor Now]
Wisconsin
Nathaniel Lentz, Oregon
- “Lentz said he’s frugal: Groceries and rent, that’s basically it. And before enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits expired at the end of last year, he was paying less than $5 per month for his health insurance. That figure jumped to $581 at the start of the year, he said. That added stress. He lives within his means, but there isn’t enough wiggle room to absorb that kind of cost each month. He wondered if he needed to find a different home or ask others for money.”
- “‘I would be very upset, because I know how to budget,’ he told the Wisconsin Independent. ‘It’d be very, very, just, awkward. I wouldn’t feel good about myself, actually, if my parents had to help me out again.’” [Wisconsin Independent]
Nancy Peske, 63
- “For years, the ACA has afforded her family some peace of mind. Before the health law, she and her late husband and son would bounce from health insurance company to health insurance company, ‘praying that we would never have to make a claim.’”
- “In recent years, Peske has been able to use available enhanced subsidies to enroll in a Bronze plan with a monthly premium of $370. Now, she’s expected to pay $1,164. As a breast cancer survivor, Peske feels it’s important to have coverage to stay healthy. She has made the difficult decision to stay enrolled. But there is a financial tradeoff: Peske intends to stop putting any money into retirement savings for the next two years until she can qualify for Medicare.”
- “‘What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to shut down my business, go get a job somewhere — and then two years from now, start my business up again? That makes no sense,’ she said.” [The 19th]