As open enrollment continues, the consequences of Republican inaction are becoming impossible to ignore. Premiums are skyrocketing – doubling, tripling, and even quadrupling – after Donald Trump and Republicans prioritized tax breaks for GOP billionaires and big corporations over providing relief for working people. The solution is already on the table. Later today, the House is poised to pass a clean, three-year extension of the tax credits. Then, the fate of the tax credits will be in the hands of the Senate and Leader John Thune. Without action, over 21 million Americans are facing an impossible choice: keep their health coverage or pay the bills and risk going uninsured. But don’t just take our word for it:
Nancy Leamond, Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy & Engagement Officer, AARP
- “AARP, which advocates for 125 million Americans age 50 and older, urges Congress to immediately pass the three-year extension of tax credits to reverse the massive price hike in health insurance premiums that is putting health care out of reach for too many older Americans. Last week, due to Congressional inaction, millions of older Americans saw their health insurance costs skyrocket, with some people being asked to pay more than 30% of their income for health care. Nobody can afford that. We appreciate the bipartisan efforts that have gone into moving this legislation to the floor, and we urge its immediate adoption.”
Gbenga Ajilore, Chief Economist, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
- “If you’re hurt, you have something wrong, you’re going to let it go slide for a bit, but at some point, if it becomes serious, you’re going to go to the hospital. At that point hospitals will take care of you, but it’s going to become expensive and they’re not going to get compensated for it, so that’s the biggest problem. Another problem is that people that are uninsured, when they get help, that puts an impact on the rest of us who do have health insurance, because what makes health insurance premiums lower or cheaper is when you have a broader pool of people who have coverage.”
- “What’s going to happen is that they have a decision to make. Do you stay on the health insurance and pay more? For some people it’s 50% more per month and it’s going to be really difficult. The question is, where does that money come from? Does it come from food? Does it come from housing? Does it come from schooling? Do you need to take a second job? Does someone need to go out into the workforce? What’s going to happen is that there’s going to be a ripple effect of other decisions that have to be made and they’re not going to be able to make up that money.” [Fox13]
Topher Spiro, Senior Fellow for Health Policy, Center for American Progress
- “A majority of Americans support extending the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits, and a majority of Congress knows action is needed to stop premium costs from more than doubling in 2026. Instead, government inaction will leave families to pay the price and deepen the affordability crisis. There is still a clear path forward to extend these tax credits and protect Americans’ health coverage. It’s not too late to fix this.” [Press Release]
Michelle Sternthal, Director of Government Affairs, Community Catalyst
- “If Republicans were serious about lowering costs, they would immediately pass a permanent, clean extension of these tax credits and repeal the dangerous health care cuts in H.R. 1. Because affordable, accessible care isn’t just good policy — it’s the foundation of a stronger, more resilient people, economy, and nation.” [Press Release]
Coalition on Human Needs
- “Congress needs to pass an extension of ACA premium tax credits immediately. Failing to do so will drive up health care costs for 22 million people and could leave as many as 6 million uninsured by 2026—all to bankroll billionaire tax cuts. Enough is enough.” [X]
Doctors for America
- “Premium Tax Credits make health care affordable for 20M+ people. If they expire, millions won’t be able to get care. When families lose coverage, we all pay the price. Hospitals shift unpaid bills onto everyone—even people with private insurance.” [X]
Julian Walker, Vice President of Communications, Virginia Hospital and Health Care Association
- “The estimate is that as many as 100,000 Virginians could be priced out of the marketplace due to the expiration of these tax credits.”
- “That care is provided essentially at a loss. The hospital is absorbing that… it gets reflected in out-of-pocket costs for families and businesses.”
- “The ripple effects that we may see in the years ahead, if it leads to more people losing coverage, is that we’re going back in the opposite direction. Where that charity care number, that uncompensated care number starts going back up.” [WAVY]
Jay Shah, Texas Medical Association President
- “Our emergency rooms are full already. There’s an increased burden on the hospitals. They’re already doing uninsured care, and now they’re going to have more uninsured care.” [Texas Public Radio]
Rick Lucas, President and Executive Director, Ohio Nurses Association
- “Rick Lucas, president and executive director of the Ohio Nurses Association and a staff nurse at OSU Wexner, said the loss of both tax credits and Medicaid funding has created a crisis. ‘Taking away Medicaid means taking away primary care,’ Lucas emphasized. ‘That’s all the care that happens away from the hospital. And so these patients are going to wait until they’re sick and have an emergency, and then they’re going to come and seek acute care services in the emergency department.’” [Heartland Signal]
Dr. Sunil Joshi, Chief Health Officer for the City of Jacksonville,
- “‘For a lot of people, premiums are going to go up, and they’ll choose not to sign up for health care,’ said Dr. Sunil Joshi, Chief Health Officer for the City of Jacksonville. ‘When that happens, people start using emergency rooms as their source of primary care, and that’s clearly not the best way to stay healthy.’” [First Coast News]
Dr. Uché Blackstock, Emergency Room Doctor, Founder and CEO, Advancing Health Equity
- “For many families, the increase will be sudden and unaffordable, and as a physician, I know what happens next: Some people will drop coverage entirely. Others will keep insurance in name only, avoiding care because of higher deductibles and higher out-of-pocket costs. Preventive visits will be postponed. Prescriptions will go unfilled. Chronic conditions including diabetes, hypertension and asthma will quietly worsen until they become emergencies. Then patients arrive in emergency rooms sicker and harder to treat.” [MS Now]
Priscilla Easterling, Director of Outreach & Enrollment, Kentucky Voices for Health
- “I’ve had conversations with folks where they are already planning to just ration medication, ration their food.”
- “Our legislators need to know how important and how impactful these premium increases are on our daily life.”
- “I’m worried about health outcomes getting worse, folks getting sicker, needing more help, worried about emergency rooms starting to see an increase as folks are starting to rely more on emergency rooms.” [WKYT]
Jessica Altman, Executive Director, Covered California
- “There is still time for Congress to act and extend the enhanced premium tax credits and keep health care coverage affordable for millions of working-class Americans. We here in California and the other state-based marketplaces stand ready to implement any changes that make health care more attainable for consumers in 2026.” [Sacramento Bee]
Dr. Daniel Derksen, Director, Arizona Center of Rural Health
- “My analysis is that about 100,000 to 125,000 Arizonans won’t be able to afford the higher premiums that they’ll be forced to pay because they no longer get a tax credit to help them pay for that coverage.”
- “You don’t really save money by throwing people off of health insurance. You just shift who absorbs the cost – the individuals or their families, or to the clinics and hospitals that have to absorb that charity care, that uncompensated care.” [KOLD]