One net result of the Senate vote Sunday is a major increase in Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance costs due to President Donald Trump’s insistence on “my way or the highway” rather than good faith negotiation. So the increase that taxpayers started seeing in monthly health insurance costs for 2026 … rests firmly on Trump’s shoulders.
Josh Marshall and Shasta Willson have some other take-aways, such as “a sea change in how the party functions in Congress” (wielding power) and the seating (finally) of newly-elected Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) which should yield movement on the Epstein Files.
Overlooked in much of the gnashing of teeth: Sunday’s Senate bill includes funding for USDA for fiscal 2026. That means SNAP will be fully funded, should the House pass the Senate bill. And that passage, my friend, is up for serious debate.
However, regardless of the House taking up the bill and passing it or rejecting it, this is now the Trump Health Insurance Price Hike.
Here’s an example from North Carolina:
Lea Charlton and her husband had grown used to finding ways to offset the “huge amount of money” she says treatments for her heart condition required…
When she found out last year that she qualified for an Affordable Care Act health plan subsidized by tax credits, she felt relieved.
That relief turned to alarm when the 60-year-old former occupational therapist checked her 2026 premium on the federal marketplace.The price was $1,825.82 per month, double her last plan…
“People are saying, without the affordable care tax credit, families like mine will be forced to choose between health care coverage and the everyday essentials that keep our children healthy and our homes stable,” Davis said.
A 100% increase for a 60-year-old who is just one of the 10% of North Carolinians who rely on ACA health insurance subsidies.
The other half of the increased health insurance rates for 2026 is that insurers are increasing rates by about 26% on average, according to KFF, because they expect the pool of insured Americans to shrink. And because they can.
The amount subsidized enrollees pay is not what insurers charge, but rather a sliding-scale share of their household income, based on a formula set by Congress. If Congress extends the enhanced tax credits, the amount subsidized enrollees pay each month will remain about the same, even though the amount insurers are charging is increasing sharply…
If the enhanced premium tax credits expire at the end of this year, KFF estimates that currently subsidized enrollees will see their monthly premium payments more than double, increasing by about 114%, on average (emphasis added).
Note: the party that routinely traffics in lies continues to falsely insist that Democrats are “insisting on taxpayer-funded health care for illegal aliens.” Nope. That’s a lie.
From Georgetown University School of Public Policy:
As we have written repeatedly, undocumented immigrants have never been eligible for full Medicaid coverage. In fact, even many lawfully present immigrants are not eligible for Medicaid. Undocumented immigrants have also never been eligible for premium tax credits to purchase Marketplace plans, and cannot even purchase a private plan on the Marketplace with their own money.
Democrats are pushing to continue more generous federal subsidies to help Americans afford Obamacare policies and to reverse deep cuts to Medicaid and other health coverage contained in Trump’s sweeping domestic policy agenda package. But neither of those changes would provide health coverage to undocumented immigrants, since they aren’t eligible for either program.
[T]here are not millions of undocumented people losing [Medicaid] coverage because of this bill, since they don’t have comprehensive coverage under Medicaid to begin with, and the very limited emergency Medicaid coverage provided to immigrants is not changed under the bill,” [Leonardo Cuello, a research professor at the Georgetown University,] said.
The Republicans have repeatedly lied about Democrats wanting “illegals” to get free federal government funded health care.
The truth is that for 15 years Republicans have railed against ACA but have not offered an alternative. If you believe they will acquiesce if the Senate actually holds a vote in December as promised, I have bridge I’d like to sell.
That makes this huge, probable price increase in health insurance premiums Trump’s Health Insurance Price Hike.
Oh, and Trump’s bloviating about $2000 checks from tariffs? One, the Yale Budget Lab estimates each American household will pay $2,400 in tariffs this year. That doesn’t leave much to monthly insurance payments that could be $1,000 or more, does it? And two, the man just wants to send out checks with his name of them, like he did during Covid.
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A final reminder: as the minority party in both branches of Congress, Democrats have damn little power in DC. Their power in the Senate (53-46-1): preventing certain bills from coming to a vote because of the (virtual) filibuster. In the House, the ratio is 219-214* which means Democrats have to persuade three Republicans to vote with them to pass or block legislation.
* We are waiting for Rep. Grijalva to be sworn in.
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com