Days Before Open Enrollment Begins, Senator Murray Joins Idaho Leaders, Residents Who Rely on ACA Tax Credits to Call on Republicans to Come to the Table to Prevent Health Care[...]

KFF: Most Republicans and MAGA Supporters Say Congress Should Extend the Enhanced ACA Tax Credits Set to Expire Next Year

ICYMI: Wall Street Journal - White House Senses Political Risk on Healthcare Despite Shutdown Bravado; Murray takes case directly to Idahoans as new signs indicate Republicans are feeling the heat over their refusal to take action to prevent people's costs from spiking

Typical 60-year old couple in Idaho making $85,000 will face a $17,900 spike in annual premiums

Open enrollment in Idaho begins October 15^th; More than 100,000 Idahoans rely on ACA tax credits

***WATCH press conference HERE***

Washington, D.C. - Today, on the ninth 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, held a virtual press conference with Idaho State Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow and Idahoans who rely on Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits to afford health care: Bob McMichael, an author and retired teacher from Council, ID, and Susan Wood, a retiree from Boise.

Right now, Democrats are fighting to save the ACA tax credits, which expire at the end of the year. Without them, 22 million Americans-mostly in red states-will see their health care costs skyrocket. Premiums will more than double, on average, 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. In Idaho, over 100,000 people rely on the ACA tax credits-and without them, the average increase in annual premiums is expected to be at least $975. If the ACA tax credits aren't extended, a typical 60-year-old couple making $85,000 in Idaho will face a whopping $17,900 increase in their annual premium costs next year and 25,000 Idahoans are likely to forgo health insurance altogether.

More than 3 in 4 people who get their health care through the ACA marketplaces-18.7 million out of 24.3 million-live in states President Trump won in 2024. The vast majority of Americans want Congress to renew the ACA tax credits, according to recent polling from KFF-including six in ten Republicans and a majority of Republicans who identify as MAGA. At the press conference, Senator Murray made her case directly to Idahoans, explaining how inaction by their Republican members of Congress will force their health care premiums to explode next year. She implored Republican leaders to come to the table as new signs indicate that Republicans are feeling the heat on their deeply unpopular position. In recent days, reporting has indicated that the White House is privately fretting about the issue, and President Trump signaled openness to cutting a deal.

"Across the country, premiums are going to more than double for millions of families, unless Congress saves the tax credits that help people afford insurance on the ACA exchanges. In Idaho, that means pretty much everyone who buys health insurance through the Your Health Idaho online marketplace is about to see a huge spike in their health care costs. But Republicans don't want to talk about it. And they have refused to do anything about it. In fact, Republicans have chosen to shut down the government rather than work with Democrats on a solution to stop this from happening. So here's my feeling on this: if Republicans don't want to level with their own constituents about what is at stake, I am happy to do it," said Senator Murray. "If the tax credits expire, an estimated 25,000 people in Idaho will be forced off their health coverage because they won't be able to afford it anymore. We are talking about families with kids. We are talking about seniors, retirees who aren't old enough for Medicare but desperately need health coverage. We are talking about countless farmers, small business owners, and freelancers. If Republicans continue refusing to act, then next week, families across Idaho are going to come face to face with premiums they simply cannot afford."

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 theProtecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act-that would make them permanent.

"I am overwhelmed with calls every day, from Idahoans who are worried about their health care and frustrated by what they see coming out of Washington. Farmers in the Magic Valley, teachers in Sandpoint, small business owners in Boise. Their stories are remarkably similar. They are worried. They are frustrated. And more than anything, they are asking, "Why are the people we send to Washington making our lives harder? In less than a week, Idaho's health insurance exchange opens for enrollment. But instead of certainty, families are facing the threat of skyrocketing premiums. That is because Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have shut down the government rather than working with Democrats to extend the Affordable Care Act's premium tax credits," said Idaho State Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow. "We are all hearing stories from Idahoans across the state. Parents who have delayed surgeries. Retirees who are counting pills to stretch their prescriptions. Young couples trying to decide whether they can even afford to start a family. And what is often overlooked is that more than one in four Idaho farmers and ranchers buy their health care through the ACA marketplace. They do not have employer plans. They depend on these credits to protect their families and keep their operations running. Times are already tough for farmers due to Trump tariffs, and they don't need any more challenges as they try to put food on their tables and ours… Making these tax credits permanent would cost less than one-tenth of the price tag of the billionaire tax cut they passed earlier this year. Less than a tenth. If Congress can afford to hand out massive tax breaks to billionaires and corporations, it can certainly afford to help working families keep their health insurance."

"So my wife and I are both retired… We are kind of not at all unique in that we are finally though one of those couples who are senior citizens on a fixed income. I never, ever thought I would say that, but that's a fact for us now. Our annual income is about $42,000, that's some pensions, and my wife elected to take Social Security early. With the Social Security that she elected to take, and at age 62 that put us over the threshold to receive Medicaid for our health care. And so we, last year, chose a health plan on the exchange under the Affordable Care Act and qualified for the tax credits. And our tax credit was about $1,865 and our health plan this year, the premium was $1,916, so that left us to have to pay $51 a month for our coverage," said Bob McMichael, an author and retired teacher from Council, Idaho. "But last week, I received a letter from the healthcare plan informing us that in January 2026 our health plan premium would increase by $367 to $2,232. So, if the tax credit stayed the same our monthly premium would have gone from $51 to $367 and that is almost unaffordable for us. It's going to really hurt. That's assuming the tax credits don't get taken away. If the tax credits do get taken away, the annual cost of the plan that we are on will be almost $27,000. So even if they keep the tax credits and they somehow get put back in, our increase in our premium is going to be almost 800% per month. 800% that's eight times. And so, a lot of the reporting that I've seen saying that might double just seems confusing to me. So, I'm not an expert by any means, but it seems crazy that our congress people who are supposed to represent their constituents in Idaho, are completely tone deaf and ignoring this. Basically, our option is even if they reinstate the tax credits, or if they if they are still on the table for us in 2026, it's going to be hard. But if they don't reinstate them, then we simply won't be able to afford any health care at all."

"My premium is set to go up by 173% next year. While that's a significant difference for someone at my retirement income level, for someone under age 65 who makes $65,000 or more, whether retired or self-employed, my same plan would be over $700 month, or an almost a 900% increase," said Susan Wood, a Boise resident since 1992 who retired in July. "No one can afford a 900% increase on any one item, let alone the exponentially rising costs of groceries, rent, homeowner's insurance, auto insurance, and it just goes on. And, here is the snowball effect: the healthy risk pool will elect to drop coverage, the insurance companies are left with a pool of individuals who have ongoing medical conditions, claims go up, premiums go up, insurance companies drop out of the market, and those who are healthy and dropped coverage risk a health crisis with no coverage. This is an impossible situation that needs to be fixed for the long term."

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