KFF: ACA Marketplace Premium Payments Will More than Double on Average Next Year if Enhanced Premium Tax Credits Expire
Senator Murray has been holding nonstop events with Washingtonians who will see their premiums skyrocket next year to lift up their stories, demand Republicans come to the negotiating table and act to save health care
*** PHOTOS AND B-ROLL HERE***
Oak Harbor, WA — Today,U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, visited Sea Mar Community Health Centers’ Oak Harbor Clinic to hear directly from doctors and health care providers about how they are being affected by Republicans’ recent attacks on health care—including cutting Medicaid by the largest amount in history, and letting millions of Americans’ health care premiums more than double by refusing to extend critical Affordable Care Act (ACA) health care tax credits for middle-class families.
Right now, Democrats are fighting in Congress to stop health care costs from skyrocketing—urging Republicans to join them at the negotiating table to hammer out compromise legislation to reopen the government and prevent people’s health care costs from skyrocketing. For months, Republicans have refused to extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits, and if they are not extended soon, 22 million Americans across the country—including more than 216,000 people in Washington state—will see their health care costs spike in January. According to KFF, premiums will more than double for Americans who buy health care through the ACA exchanges, and these higher costs will push 4.2 million people off their health coverage over the next decade—including an estimated 80,000 people in Washington state, where health insurers have been approved for an average rate hike of 21 percent.
Senator Murray has been speaking out nonstop about the urgent need to save health care and keep the government open and calling on Republicans to come to the table to negotiate a bipartisan deal—which they have so far refused to do. As the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Murray leads legislation supported by the Democratic caucus that would reopen the government, address the health care crisis, and protect Congress’ power of the purse from Donald Trump and Russ Vought’s nonstop, lawless efforts to block funding from reaching communities across the country.
“President Trump and Republicans have created a full-blown health care crisis, and they aren’t willing to lift a finger to clean up their own mess,” Senator Murray said. “Republicans have gutted Medicaid and our hospitals and community health centers are going to be forced to make staffing and service cuts. And, after forcing a completely avoidable government shutdown, Republicans are still refusing to come to the table to extend critical tax credits to stop health care premiums from skyrocketing for millions of Americans. Right now, people across Washington state are getting letters in the mail saying their premiums are set to double—or go up by even more next year. Millions of Americans will be forced to go without health insurance, including an estimated 80,000 people in Washington state. This is unacceptable—I won’t stand by while Republicans continue to attack our health care system and risk the health of Americans. I’ll keep raising the alarm, pushing back, and fighting every way I can to stop Republicans’ health care sabotage.”
Senator Murray played a critical role in passing the enhanced premium tax credits in the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 and extending them in the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, and she has been fighting for months to make sure these important health care tax credits don’t expire, including cosponsoring multiple pieces of legislation—the Health Care Affordability Act and the Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act—that would make them permanent. She has held countless recent events across Washington state and in Washington, D.C. with doctors, patients, and former HHS officials to highlight their stories and bring attention to how Trump and Republicans’ attacks on health care are devastating American families.
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