News | ACA Subsidies Near Expiration, Putting Millions of Americans at Risk of Health Insurance Price Increases
As the U.S. Congress remains deadlocked during its year-end legislative window, millions of Americans who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace face the real prospect of steep premium increases. Unless Congress acts in time, the enhanced tax credits that currently reduce premiums will expire at the end of the year.
According to the latest episode of KFF Health News' health policy podcast What the Health?, December 15 is the deadline to purchase coverage beginning January 1, 2026. Many consumers are still waiting to see whether Congress will extend the tax credits before deciding if they can afford coverage next year. If the subsidies expire, some families may be forced to drop coverage and become uninsured again.
As of Thursday morning, the U.S. Senate was preparing to vote on two competing health policy proposals, but both were widely expected to fail. Democrats proposed extending the enhanced ACA premium tax credits, while Republicans favored adding funds to health savings accounts (HSAs) for some ACA enrollees rather than continuing the subsidies directly. With the enrollment deadline approaching and policy prospects unclear, affordability has become an immediate concern.
Federal vaccine policy is also undergoing a major shift. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), whose members were appointed by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., recently voted to end the universal recommendation for hepatitis B vaccination at birth. The decision is seen as a key step toward weakening federal vaccine promotion and only the beginning of broader changes to childhood vaccination recommendations.
Podcast guests said the committee supported the change because mother-to-child transmission is the main risk of hepatitis B infection in infants. Public health experts stressed, however, that the virus can survive on household surfaces and that unvaccinated children may still face chronic infection and even death. The decision has drawn significant concern from the medical and public health communities.
There were also important reproductive health policy developments this week. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson removed provisions covering fertility treatment for military personnel before final passage of the National Defense Authorization Act. Meanwhile, anti-abortion groups are calling for FDA Commissioner Marty Makary to be dismissed, arguing that he has acted too slowly on changes to medication-abortion policy.
This episode of What the Health? was hosted by KFF Health News Chief Washington Correspondent Julie Rovner. Guests included Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Maya Goldman of Axios and Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times. The program also featured an interview with Georgetown University professor Linda Blumberg about the common logic behind Republican health policy proposals.
KFF Health News noted that the approaching expiration of ACA subsidies, changes in vaccine policy and continuing disputes over reproductive health legislation are bringing U.S. health policy into a highly uncertain and consequential period, with direct effects on families' health coverage and financial burden.
News | ACA Subsidies Near Expiration, Putting Millions of Americans at Risk of Health Insurance Price Increases
News | ACA Subsidies Near Expiration, Putting Millions of Americans at Risk of Health Insurance Price Increases
As the U.S. Congress remains deadlocked during its year-end legislative window, millions of Americans who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace face the real prospect of steep premium increases. Unless Congress acts in time, the enhanced tax credits that currently reduce premiums will expire at the end of the year.
According to the latest episode of KFF Health News' health policy podcast What the Health?, December 15 is the deadline to purchase coverage beginning January 1, 2026. Many consumers are still waiting to see whether Congress will extend the tax credits before deciding if they can afford coverage next year. If the subsidies expire, some families may be forced to drop coverage and become uninsured again.
As of Thursday morning, the U.S. Senate was preparing to vote on two competing health policy proposals, but both were widely expected to fail. Democrats proposed extending the enhanced ACA premium tax credits, while Republicans favored adding funds to health savings accounts (HSAs) for some ACA enrollees rather than continuing the subsidies directly. With the enrollment deadline approaching and policy prospects unclear, affordability has become an immediate concern.
Federal vaccine policy is also undergoing a major shift. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), whose members were appointed by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., recently voted to end the universal recommendation for hepatitis B vaccination at birth. The decision is seen as a key step toward weakening federal vaccine promotion and only the beginning of broader changes to childhood vaccination recommendations.
Podcast guests said the committee supported the change because mother-to-child transmission is the main risk of hepatitis B infection in infants. Public health experts stressed, however, that the virus can survive on household surfaces and that unvaccinated children may still face chronic infection and even death. The decision has drawn significant concern from the medical and public health communities.
There were also important reproductive health policy developments this week. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson removed provisions covering fertility treatment for military personnel before final passage of the National Defense Authorization Act. Meanwhile, anti-abortion groups are calling for FDA Commissioner Marty Makary to be dismissed, arguing that he has acted too slowly on changes to medication-abortion policy.
This episode of What the Health? was hosted by KFF Health News Chief Washington Correspondent Julie Rovner. Guests included Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Maya Goldman of Axios and Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times. The program also featured an interview with Georgetown University professor Linda Blumberg about the common logic behind Republican health policy proposals.
KFF Health News noted that the approaching expiration of ACA subsidies, changes in vaccine policy and continuing disputes over reproductive health legislation are bringing U.S. health policy into a highly uncertain and consequential period, with direct effects on families' health coverage and financial burden.
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