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ACA health insurance subsidies expire
Tax credits that helped subsidize the cost of Affordable Care Act health insurance for millions of people expired as the calendar turned to 2026.
MILWAUKEE - Enhanced tax credits that helped subsidize the cost of Affordable Care Act health insurance for more people expired as the calendar turned to 2026.
Sticker shock
What they're saying:
The new year's sticker shock is another factor in the fight over affordability, a key issue as the country enters a midterm election year that puts control of Congress on the November ballot.
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Whether you call it the Affordable Care Act or "Obamacare," exchange plan premiums are spiking.
"This is the same exact plan as 2025. Instead of paying about $400, I’ll be paying over a thousand dollars (per month)," said Donna Cuyler of Milwaukee County. That totals roughly $8,000 more per year. "We’ll be digging into our retirement, and I don’t know how sustainable it’ll be."
Healthcare.gov marketplace website
Impact in Wisconsin
By the numbers:
Wisconsin reports roughly 277,000 Obamacare plan participants received a subsidy.
With the enhanced subsidies expiriring, the Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner reports:
- The silver premium for a 60-year-old Milwaukee County couple making $85,000 per year will go up $25,000 per year.
- A Waukesha County family of four that earns $130,000 per year will see their premium go up $12,000 per year.
Both families make more than 400% of the federal poverty line. If they made a little less, they'd be under that line, and still qualify for regular Obamacare subsidies, which continue.
U.S. Capitol
Why is spiked
The backstory:
Tax credits had been lowering health insurance premiums for years; the extra subsidies started with the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021. Those credits expired as the new year started.
"It’s a foreseeable disaster," Patrick McIlheran, with Badger Institute, said. "Obamacare did nothing to restrain the cost of health care, the underlying problem. If anything, it seems to have increased both the cost of health care, and that cost of the insurance that’s being used to help people cover that."
Affordable Care Act subsidies expire, millions of Americans now faced with steep health insurance hikes
The Enhanced tax credits that have helped millions of Americans offset the cost of the Affordable Care Act health insurance for the last four years expired as 2025 came to a close.
Government gridlock
What's next:
The issue was central to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Democrats and Republicans in Washington still cannot agree on what should come next.
However, the U.S. House should be voting on a bill to extend Obamacare subsidies for three years. It's being brought to the House floor through a discharge petition that gets around GOP leadership's opposition. Four House Republicans joined all House Democrats in signing the petition.
The Source: FOX6 News conducted interviews, reviewed Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner data and referenced coverage related to the expiration of subsidies.