Washington D.C — A new non-partisan report shows that millions of working-class Americans who rely on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for health care coverage are about to see their insurance premiums spike, and congressional Republicans’ recently passed tax law and tariffs are directly responsible.
According to a new report, health insurance companies are proposing average premium increases of 15% for 2026, with some states seeing hikes of over 25%. Average out of pocket costs for working Americans buying insurance on the individual market could increase by 75%. The reason? The Republican Tax Law that passed earlier this month lets enhanced health care tax credits expire, while delivering massive tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations. And tariffs are driving up premium costs as well.
Without those tax credits, premium costs are expected to surge for the millions of Americans who depend on them to be able to access health care. According to the Congressional Budget Office, failing to extend these tax credits would even lead to more than 4 million Americans losing health care coverage – in addition to the millions more who will lose health care as a result of the Republican Tax Law.
“Congressional Republicans are driving up health care costs for working families at a time when people are already struggling to make ends meet. Their tax law and tariffs are a slap in the face to working-class families,” said Unrig Our Economy Campaign Director Leor Tal. “Republicans in Congress had a choice: They could have stood with American families by protecting health care and lowering costs or they could have sided with millionaires and billionaires. Spoiler: They chose billionaires, and now the rest of us are paying the price.”
Key points from CNN’s look at how Republicans are increasing health care costs:
CNN: ACA insurers propose biggest premium hikes since 2018 as Trump policies take hold
- Insurers are asking for a typical rate increase of 15% with more than a quarter proposing hikes of 20% or more. KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group, looked at 105 Obamacare insurers in 19 states and the District of Columbia that have filed rates so far.
- Steep rate increases in 2018 were also fueled by Trump administration policies, which were focused on weakening the ACA during the president’s first term after Republicans in Congress failed to repeal it in 2017.
- While rising health care costs account for about half of the coming year’s proposed increases, two other forces under the control of President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are also driving up rates, KFF found.
- The expiration of the enhanced ACA premium subsidies at the end of this year is prompting many insurers to hike rates by an additional 4%, on average. Insurers are concerned that the disappearance of this beefed-up assistance will prompt many, largely healthier consumers to drop their coverage — leaving sicker, costlier policyholders on the exchanges.
- The enhanced subsidies helped drive Obamacare signups to a record 24 million people for 2025. Most enrollees qualify for subsidies, which greatly lower their monthly premium payments. But once the beefed-up assistance lapses, those payments are expected to spike by 75%, on average, KFF said.
- Trump and GOP lawmakers did not include an extension of the subsidies in their “big, beautiful bill” and it remains to be seen whether they push for it in subsequent legislation. However, the clock is ticking since insurers are currently finalizing their rates, and the Obamacare federal and state exchanges need time to prepare for open enrollment, which starts on November 1.
- Also, some insurers are pointing to the tariffs that the Trump administration has promised to impose on pharmaceutical imports, KFF said. Those that cite tariffs say the levies will add 3% to their premium proposals.
To learn more about the campaign, visit UnrigOurEconomy.com or contact press@unrigoureconomy.com
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About Unrig Our Economy
Unrig Our Economy is a national campaign to fix the rules of our economy to make it work for working people. We know that when the middle class does well, all of us do well — which is why we’re fighting on behalf of working Americans and holding corporations, their wealthy executives, and the politicians who enable them accountable.