Officials: Connecticut Residents Face Health Coverage Losses, Cost Spikes In January

HARTFORD, CT — Thousands of Connecticut residents could see their health insurance become unaffordable on Jan. 1 if enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies expire at the end of the year, Connecticut's U.S. senators and state officials warned Friday. The lapse would trigger steep premium spikes, widespread coverage losses and long-term strain on the health system, they said.

The subsidies, expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic and extended through 2025, are set to lapse at midnight Dec. 31 unless Congress acts. Access Health CT CEO James Michel said subsidized households would face an average annual premium increase of about $6,200, though many families are receiving renewal notices showing much higher hikes.

Michel said the impact would be immediate. He estimated that 30% to 35% of Access Health CT's roughly 150,000 customers could lose their plans altogether.

"Many simply won't be able to pay January's bill," he said. "They'll be uninsured on Day One."

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said about 20 million Americans rely on ACA marketplace plans and will feel the impact "instantly" if Congress allows the subsidies to expire. He said Connecticut residents are already seeing projected annual increases between $6,000 and $25,000 — costs "most low- and middle-income families cannot absorb."

Murphy cited a recent trip to South Florida — the state with the nation's highest ACA enrollment rate — where he met a couple with four children who both have serious health conditions and said they could afford coverage for only one of them if the subsidies lapse. He said their situation mirrors choices many Connecticut families will face.

"Families should not be deciding who stays insured and who takes the risk of dying," he said.

Murphy also criticized congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump for allowing the subsidies to expire, saying the move supports tax cuts "for the wealthy and corporations." He said Democrats declined to support a budget that "throws people off their health care" and said he was disappointed some lawmakers backed reopening the government without securing protections for the subsidies.

Fellow Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Republican leadership has promised a December vote on extending the subsidies and that Democrats are prepared to support the measure unanimously. He called the situation "a self-inflicted wound" that Congress could still avoid.

"It's straightforward," Blumenthal said. "Extend the health care tax credit — whether for three years or with updated eligibility — or simply pass a clean extension."

He urged Republicans to back the measure and "eliminate the anxiety families are feeling about whether they can afford coverage."

Congressional Republicans have been meeting to come up with alternate solutions to extending the subsidies, through things like health savings accounts, flexible savings accounts or cash payments. Blumenthal said Republican proposals would not meaningfully replace health insurance, saying that HSAs are not insurance and therefore not a solution.

"Two thousand dollars in an HSA won't get you through the first day of a serious illness," he said.

He pointed to specific Connecticut examples. A family of four in Milford earning $133,000 a year would see their monthly premium rise from $921 to $2,882; a married couple earning $59,000 would see theirs increase from $673 to $2,680, he said.

As a result of lost coverage or premium spikes, Blumenthal said many people will wind up in emergency rooms, which would drive up costs for everyone.

"Make no mistake: your health care costs will rise, even if you think you're fine," he said. "The ripple effect will go through our entire health care system and the whole economy."

Leslie Silverman described the personal stakes if subsidies expire.

A self-employed marketing consultant diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2008, she said the medications that keep her stable cost nearly $7,000 a month without insurance.

"This exchange is a lifeline for so many of us," she said. "I'm not going to die without this medication — I'm just going to become more and more disabled."

Nationally, according to the Congressional Budget Office, about 2 million Americans will lose insurance at the start of 2026 if the subsidies lapse, with millions more expected to lose coverage over the following decade. The nonprofit KFF projects marketplace premiums would more than double nationwide — an average increase of 114% — if Congress does not act. Older adults would see the sharpest spikes.

Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam said families cannot absorb the increases. "Hundreds a month changes a family's world," he said. "Thousands a month is catastrophic."

If Congress does not act before Dec. 31, Connecticut families will be billed for the full cost of January premiums before lawmakers return to Washington.

Editor's note — This story has been edited.