Overview
- Expiration would trigger sharp premium hikes for ACA marketplace enrollees, with independent analyses projecting many will see payments double or triple.
- The lapse could push roughly 4 million more people into the ranks of the uninsured, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
- About 22 million Americans currently benefit from the enhanced tax credits that lowered costs and drove record exchange enrollment since 2021.
- After failed Senate votes and a blocked House discharge attempt joined by four Republicans, Speaker Mike Johnson must bring an extension to the floor the week of Jan. 5, while a House-passed GOP package omitting subsidies lacks a Senate path.
- Hardest-hit areas are forecast to include many Republican-leaning states with older, smaller, and costlier insurance markets, and farmers and other rural residents who rely on individual plans face particular risk as open enrollment closes Jan. 15.