Wyden, Merkley, Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Protect Patients and Ensure More Americans can Afford Health Care

Wyden, Merkley, Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Protect Patients and Ensure More Americans can Afford Health Care

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden said today is leading Senate colleagues, including U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, in introducing legislation to protect health care coverage for millions of Americans and improve the effectiveness of the ACA Health Insurance Marketplace.

The Restoring Patient Protections and Affordability Act would renew the enhanced premium tax credits for three years, extend the 2026 open enrollment period, reduce paperwork for families, and lower out-of-pocket costs.

"Americans today are waking up to a cold reality: health care costs are doubling, tripling, or even worse," Wyden said. "While Trump is playing the blame game on America's affordability crisis, Democrats are working day and night to extend ACA tax credits so that working families nationwide can access quality care without breaking the bank."

"Republicans exploded the cost of care for more than 20 million Americans who use the ACA exchange for health insurance-all to fund tax breaks for the already richest Americans," said Merkley. "I refuse to let folks be left out in the cold-Congress needs to act now to fix the Republican health care crisis and lower the cost of health care for folks in Oregon and across the country."

More than 20 million Americans rely on ACA Marketplace plans to have access to comprehensive health coverage, including small business owners, farmers and ranchers, independent contractors, and those who cannot afford insurance through their employers.

Through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations, the Trump administration has systematically erected barriers that have made it both more difficult and more expensive for Americans to access health care coverage. With open enrollment underway, people are actively logging onto healthcare.gov to shop for insurance coverage in 2026 and seeing massive premium spikes that will cause millions of people to forgo coverage altogether.

The Restoring Patient Protections and Affordability Act would:

• Prevent health insurance premium spikes by extending the enhanced premium tax credits for three years;
• Extend open enrollment, restore navigator funding, and reinstate the low-income special enrollment period, protecting Americans who buy their own insurance on the ACA Marketplace from the chaos and confusion caused by Republicans;
• Force insurance companies to be more transparent by requiring that health plan enrollees are notified of new information about eligibility, new premium amounts, and extended open enrollment;
• Make it easier for working people to enroll in ACA coverage by reinstating automatic reenrollment and protecting against bureaucratic coverage denials;
• Lower premiums, deductibles, and cost sharing for millions of Americans by reversing flawed Trump administration insurance payment formulas and by reinstating the bronze to silver cross walk;
• Protect consumers from surprise premium bills by reinstating the repayment caps for those who inadvertently overestimate their income;

The bill was led by Wyden and U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del. In addition to Merkley, the bill was also co-sponsored by Senators Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Tina Smith, D-Minn.

Wyden and Merkley have continually championed affordable health care. In November Wyden and Merkley slammed the Trump administration for its failure to address rising health care costs for American families.

The full text of the bill is here.