REPUBLICAN SHUTDOWN DAY 3: Senator Murray, WA Small Business Owners Who Rely on ACA Tax Credits Lay Out How Republican Inaction Will Cause Their Premiums to Skyrocket

NEW THIS MORNING FROM KFF: 8 in 10 Americans Say Congress Should Extend the Enhanced ACA Tax Credits Set to Expire Next Year, Including Most Republicans and MAGA Supporters

KFF: ACA Marketplace Premium Payments Would More than Double on Average Next Year if Enhanced Premium Tax Credits Expire

ICYMI: REPUBLICAN SHUTDOWN DAY 2: Senator Murray, WA Hospital Leaders Lay Out How the Republican Health Care Crisis is Defunding Hospitals, Forcing Premiums to Skyrocket, Kicking People Off Health Care

***WATCH full press conference HERE; DOWNLOAD HERE***

Washington, D.C. - Today,on the third day of the Republican shutdown, 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, hosted a virtual press conference with Washington small business owners to discuss how the health care crisis that Republicans have created will impact their small businesses and how Democrats are fighting to save critical Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits that working families in Washington state and across the country rely on to be able to afford health insurance. Joining Senator Murray for the press conference were Leslie McNamara, Elected Commissioner of Three Rivers Hospital, whose husband is a small business owner who relies on ACA tax credits to afford health care, and Stacya Silverman, a small business owner in Seattle who relies on ACA tax credits to afford health care.

At the press conference, Senator Murray and Washington state small business owners emphasized how many small business owners around the country, and their employees, are reliant on ACA tax credits to receive health care-and how the expiration of ACA tax credits could force them to go without health insurance and is terrible for the American economy. 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 negotiating table to work out a bipartisan deal-which they have so far refused to do, jeopardizing health care coverage for millions of people and putting Washington's entire health care system at risk.

For months, Republicans have refused to extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits, and if they are left to expire, 22 million Americans across the country-including more than 216,000 people in Washington state-will see their health care costs and premiums skyrocket. 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 for 2026. A fact sheet on what the expiration of the ACA tax credits would mean for people in Washington state is HERE.

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.

"Republicans would rather shut down the government than address a health care crisis that is threatening to shut down small businesses across the country. Right now, health care premiums are being locked in for next year. And because Republicans have refused to save the health care tax credits that millions of people rely on, health care costs are about to more than double for families across the country. And small businesses are going to be among those hardest hit by Republican inaction. Small business workers and employees are far more likely to get their coverage through the ACA exchanges. In fact, half of the people enrolled through the health care marketplace are small business owners, small business workers, or self-employed people," said Senator Murray. "Small business owners know what is coming if Republicans don't sit down with us and figure this out soon. The rate hikes are coming, and for small businesses who have tight margins, those hikes are going to mean hard decisions. Some will have to offer plans with worse benefits, and their employees will have to pay higher premiums. Some will stop offering coverage to their employees altogether. And many small businesses, which account for half of job growth, will have to stop hiring. Many will have to let people go. Some small business owners may just have to close their doors entirely. That is the crisis we are facing, and Republicans would rather shut down the government than sit down and talk about it."

Senator Murray played a critical role in passing the enhanced premium tax credits in the American Rescue Plan 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.

"I am a commissioner at Three Rivers Hospital in Brewster, Washington. We are a nonprofit, rural, critical access hospital, and so I am very concerned about the ACA and naturally for my constituents and friends, but also it hits me personally, because my husband is the sole employee of a third-generation hardware store and lumber yard. And he received an email a few weeks back warning that his ACA insurance was ending on December 31^st due to a lack of funding and the subsidized payments that would not be extended. That's all part of this budget cut. So currently, his subsidized out of pocket premiums are around $349 a month, or that's what it would be if we extended it. Without his subsidized payments, his premiums would be $1,131 a month. That's more than triple. And I'm telling you right now that's 25% of our combined income. That's not affordable. It's simply not affordable. So, what are we going to do?" said Leslie McNamara, Elected Commissioner of Three Rivers Hospital, whose husband is a small business owner in Brewster who relies on ACA tax credits to afford health care. "Likely, like many others, we might have to make the hard decision not to have health insurance for him at all. And having uninsured people, and not just him, it's a strain on his business. It's a strain on our hospital. It's a strain on every American, because when hospitals are faced with patients who cannot cover their care, that debt and charity care increase, and likely all insurance premiums will increase, and that's everybody, not just people who need subsidized health care. And so, it's just bad for the economy. It's bad for people completely. I don't know what people are going to do. We're going to have a lot of uninsured people, and that's just bad because instead of people having regular health care, they'll end up in the ER."

"I have been in business for over 30 years, and I'm a sole proprietor, and I get my health care through the exchange. My husband's retired, so he doesn't work, he's on Medicare, and he doesn't get insurance through a company or a corporation. I chose Regence, and without the exchange, I'd be paying over $1,200 a month. And with the tax credit, I pay $772 a month. And if that goes away, even though I have preexisting conditions, I'll have to find cheaper insurance somehow. I don't know what I'm going to do, I really don't. And this is the first time that I wondered, should I have gone into business for myself? Was that a mistake?" said Stacya Silverman, a small business owner in Seattle who relies on ACA tax credits to afford health care. "The most stressful thing about my business is around October when I have to figure out what insurance I'm going to get and what I'm going to have to pay. And that does not that price does not include visual or dental. So, it's expensive, and I agree with Leslie, it's terrible for the economy. It's terrible for all Americans, not just sole proprietors, and not just people who have children who are disabled. It's terrible for everybody. It'll trickle down to everybody. If we have to use the emergency room for our health care no one will be able to get into the emergency room and thinking of a country like that is very stressful."

Senator Murray's remarks, as delivered on today's press call, are below:

"We are here because Republicans would rather shut down the government than address a health care crisis that is threatening to shut down small businesses across the country.

"Right now, health care premiums are being locked in for next year. And because Republicans have refused to save the health care tax credits that millions of people rely on, health care costs are about to more than double for families in our country. And small businesses are going to be among those hardest hit by Republican inaction.

"Small business workers and employees are far more likely to get their coverage through the ACA exchanges. In fact, half of the people enrolled through the health care marketplace are small business owners, small business workers, or self-employed people.

"Here in Washington state, there are 50,000 small businesses, employees, and people who are self-employed, who are enrolled through our exchange.

"One in four farmers get their coverage through the marketplace. Same goes for dentists, real estate brokers, manicurists, and that is just the tip of the iceberg that Republicans are refusing to avoid.

"Small business owners know what is coming if Republicans don't sit down with us and figure this out soon.

"The rate hikes are coming, and for small businesses who have tight margins, those hikes are going to mean hard decisions. Some will have to offer plans with worse benefits, and their employees will have to pay higher premiums. Some will stop offering coverage to their employees altogether.

"And many small businesses, which account for half of job growth, will have to stop hiring. Many will have to let people go. Some small business owners may just have to close their doors entirely.

"That is the crisis we are facing, and Republicans would rather shutdown the government than sit down and talk about it.

"And as I keep saying: Republicans might have shut down the government, but they cannot shut down debate. And they cannot shut out the voices of people across the country who are on the frontlines of this health care crisis.

"Which is why I'm very pleased to be joined today by some Washington state voices who know exactly what is at stake for small businesses if Republicans refuse to save the health care tax credits.

"These stories are exactly what this fight is about. This is who I am fighting for.

"And I am going to keep your stories in the spotlight, and keep your voices echoing in the halls of power, until Republicans finally acknowledge the reality of this health care crisis-and work with us on solutions to reopen the government, and avoid forcing a huge health care cost increase on families and small businesses."

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