Evers, Baldwin: Premium increase, no tax credit will make ACA unaffordable

WISCONSIN — U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Gov. Tony Evers held a virtual press conference on Monday to announce Affordable Care Act health insurance increases for 2026.

Baldwin and Evers, along with U.S. Reps. Mark Pocan and Rep. Gwen Moore discussed the increases for 2026 if the Affordable Care Act's enhanced premium tax credits were not extended.

"With economic uncertainty and prices going up on everything from groceries, to school supplies, clothes… families are struggling," Evers said.

Evers said now more than ever, politicians, "should be working to make health care more affordable and more accessible, not making it more expensive and harder for folks to get the coverage and care they need."

According to Evers, in 2025, 88% of Wisconsinites enrolled in coverage on healthcare.gov.

"They qualified for tax credits, saving an average of $664 a month," he explained.

"And without these enhanced tax credits, health care premiums for Wisconsinites are going to skyrocket, period."

Evers said many people in Wisconsin will see their premiums double and some "will see staggering increases in this, no kidding, of over $30,000 a year."

"Increased costs vary depending on how old you are, where you live and how much you make," he said.

As an example, Evers pointed out that a middle class family of four in Wausau could see their premium more than double, going from $886 a month to over $2,300.

"Accessible and affordable health care shouldn't only be for the healthy and wealthy, but that's exactly what's going to happen if Congress doesn't act," he said. "And you know who's going to get hurt the most? Middle class families, retirees, small business owners, anybody that's self-employed, including our farmers and families."

Nationally, Evers said, 70% of those who purchase their own insurance will not be able to afford premiums if the tax credits go away.

"And 40% say they'll be priced out of coverage entirely," he said. "That includes veterans, with 267,000 veterans who will lose their coverage if these tax credits go away."

Baldwin emphasized the ACA tax credit premiums "crisis was avoidable."

"Wisconsin families do not have to pay an arm and leg for health care," she said, adding that "I will be the first to say that our health care system is broken. For too many, health care is simply too expensive."

Baldwin said this is a reason why she got into public service.

"Remember, before the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies could pick and choose who they covered," she explained. "If you had a pre-existing health condition, you were probably going to be out of luck."

"Fortunately, after passing the Affordable Care Act, we've also built on the success by giving families, small business owners, entrepreneurs, farmers and hardworking Wisconsinites a bigger tax break when they get their health care through healthcare.gov."

"It's called the Enhanced Premium Tax Credit. And if it were my choice, these tax breaks would be permanent."

Baldwin said, on average, 22 million Americans rely on premium tax breaks.

"Projections show that premiums will double on average for Americans on the ACA if these tax credits are not extended, but Americans in some states are seeing their premiums increase more than quadruple," she said.

Today, Baldwin said, Evers confirmed the statistics aren't exaggerations.

"We have numbers to back up just how much hurt families are going to have to feel in Wisconsin," she said. "Every single Wisconsinite getting health care through healthcare.gov will pay more next year, period."

Baldwin said for more than 275,000 Wisconsinites, "care is about to get drastically more expensive. … Let me be crystal clear. All of this is because Republicans are refusing to act, refusing to negotiate, refusing to extend these premium tax credits. These numbers, each represents an individual or a family. Each have faces, stories."

"They are our neighbors, our family, folks we go to church or synagogue with, the guy behind the counter at your favorite sandwich shop. The amount of money we are talking about spending each month is budget-busting."

Moore pointed out that health care is 20% of the American economy.

"This is a bipartisan challenge," she said. "Can we afford to have this economy collapse? All of us, no matter how we get our insurance, are going to see our premiums rise because of the tremendous uncompensated care that will revolve around a minimum of 15 million losing their health insurance."

"And every single person is going to be affected who's on that exchange — that's 22 million plus people," Pocan said. "It's not the average that matters. As much as some people's spikes are going to be $1,000 or $2,000 a month, or more, which means they won't have insurance."

It's predicted, Pocan explained, that four million people will lose their health insurance and insurance companies, once they see the increased rates in certain areas, will leave the market.

"House Republicans simply need to come back to work," he said. "We can do other things while we're negotiating this forward. But holding your breath and not showing up means we can't negotiate. We can't get something done."

Pocan said he has had 100 people reach out in the last week regarding the government shutdown, but 15,742 people, this year alone, regarding health care.

"This is important for every single family in Wisconsin," he said. "We're all going to see a rate increase because of this law."

Adams Multimedia reached out to U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany for a comment, with no immediate response.