Enhanced ACA tax credits set to expire, advocates warn of “life-or-death” impact
Enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits that keep health insurance affordable for millions of Americans are set to expire at the end of this year, and patient advocates say the consequences could be devastating if Congress doesn’t act.
Radio Catskill’s Patricio Robayo spoke with Katie Berge, senior director of federal affairs at Blood Cancer United and a leader with the Keep Americans Covered Coalition, about what’s at stake for families, especially those living with serious illnesses like cancer.
More than 140,000 New Yorkers currently use these enhanced tax credits to lower their monthly premiums. Nationwide, over 22 million people could see premiums skyrocket or lose coverage entirely if Congress fails to extend the subsidies.
“For a family in New York making around $65,000 a year, they would see their annual premiums increase by almost $3,000,” Berge said. “A 60-year-old couple earning around $85,000 a year would see their premiums go up by almost $12,000. These are not small sums of money.”
The timing is especially tense because this is all happening during Open Enrollment, when families are logging on right now to choose their coverage for 2026.
“When people shop for coverage, they shop based on whether they can afford their premium,” Berge said. “And right now those price tags are giving people sticker shock.”
For patients with blood cancer and other serious conditions, she said, the issue is literally life or death. Many people with blood cancer find out they’re sick only when they land in the emergency room and are suddenly thrust into years of chemotherapy, scans and maintenance treatment.
“In the United States we have some of the most advanced treatments in the world, but none of that counts for anything if people cannot afford to access it,” Berge said. “Insurance is that pathway to treatment and to cures.”
Berge said the quickest solution is also the simplest: Congress should extend the enhanced ACA tax credits as they currently exist to give families immediate certainty, and then take up broader health care reforms later.
“There is a really easy way to move forward on this issue,” she said. “Extend the tax credits as they are, and then we can have additional conversations about how to strengthen our health care system overall.”
She urged listeners to contact their members of Congress and ask them to protect the credits. More information and tools to take action are available at americanscovered.org. Support for people affected by blood cancer is available at bloodcancerunited.org.