Washington, D.C. – On January 1, premiums more than doubled for families across the nation because Trump and Republicans took away working people’s tax credits that made coverage more affordable to fund billionaire tax breaks, plunging the country into a health care affordability crisis. Today’s breakthrough comes as vulnerable House Republicans finally recognize that affordability is the defining issue of the 2026 midterms, and forcing millions of Americans into crippling medical debt to pay for tax breaks for the wealthiest of Americans will be the GOP’s undoing. The bill now heads to the Senate, where Senate Republican Leader John Thune and his colleagues face a clear choice: lower costs for hard-working Americans or march on with the GOP’s health care affordability crisis.
In response, Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach released the following statement:
“Thanks to the leadership of House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the House of Representatives passed a clean, three-year extension of the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits — a lifeline for over 21 million Americans. The fallout of the Trump-GOP health care crisis is metastasizing throughout the nation. Republicans have forced small business owners to shutter what they spent blood, sweat, and tears building. They have pushed parents into impossible choices between paying rent, buying groceries, and feeding their babies. They have ripped the rug out from under farmers, driving them towards bankruptcy. Trump and Republicans knew this would be the consequence of their actions — but they did it anyway to further enrich the Elon Musks of the world. The GOP still has a pathway to reverse course before more irreparable damage is done, more working families’ budgets are busted, and more lives are put at risk. Now the choice is up to Senator Thune and President Trump: give working families their tax credits back or face the anger of voters this November.”
Background:
Unless the Senate passes a clean, three-year extension of the ACA tax credits, the Trump-GOP premium hikes will:
- Double or triple premiums for over 20 million hardworking Americans including small business owners, farmers, and older adults.
- Rip health care away from over 4 million Americans to pay for tax breaks for corporations like Big Pharma and billionaires like Elon Musk.
- Force middle-class families to pay $300 billion more in health care costs while CEOs and yacht owners pocket nearly $1 trillion in tax breaks.
- Force one in three Americans buying health care on their own to reduce their coverage and pay thousands more each year in health care costs.
- Pressure countless families to cut back on food, clothing, and other basics to afford health insurance and greater out-of-pocket costs.
- Cut $30 billion from hospitals and clinics at a time over 600+ facilities across the country are already folding under the weight of the GOP’s Medicaid cuts.
AARP issued a statement pushing for a 3-year extension of the tax credits, noting that some older Americans are the hardest hit by higher premiums and being asked to pay as much as 30 percent of their income for health care. See how older couples are hit by the GOP’s scheme to rip away ACA tax credits:
- A 60-year-old couple making $85,000 a year in Key Largo, Florida, will be forced to pay $4,801 more a month and $57,613 more a year — more than two-thirds of their annual income — to stay on the same health plan next year.
- A 60-year-old couple making $85,000 a year in Carbondale, Illinois, will be forced to pay $5,020 more a month and $60,244 more a year — more than two-thirds of their annual income — to stay on the same health plan next year.
- A 60-year-old couple making $85,000 a year in Chesterfield, West Virginia, will be forced to pay $3,882 more a month and $46,487 more a year — more than half their annual income — to stay on the same health plan next year.
- A 60-year-old couple making $85,000 a year in Sheridan, Wyoming, will be forced to pay $4,135 more a month and $49,621 more a year — more than half their annual income — to stay on the same health plan next year.