Report: 45,000 Wisconsinites dropped ACA health insurance after federal subsidies ended

About 45,000 fewer Wisconsinites are enrolled in the Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplace after federal tax subsidies expired late last year, according to national reports.

Health news and policy organization KFF said the data from last month show Wisconsin’s enrollment in the ACA marketplace has dropped by 16% from the year before, down to 245,000 people. Every state, with the exception of Arizona, saw decreases in ACA marketplace enrollment, with an average state decline of about 15%. States without their own subsidies saw larger decreases.

Wisconsin’s decline comes after seeing increases in ACA marketplace participation every year, reaching a high point in January 2025 of 306,000 enrollees. It’s not clear whether those people have sought health insurance coverage elsewhere or have chosen to go without.

Last year, Congress could not come to an agreement on extending supplemental COVID-19-era tax credits for ACA marketplace enrollees that capped people’s monthly premiums at no more than 8.5% of their income. Democrats had refused to help Republicans end the longest federal government shutdown in history as they pressured Republicans to extend the subsidies.

Republicans argued the expanded subsidies had served their purpose during the pandemic and needed to come to an end.

Most people enrolled in the ACA marketplace still receive some tax credits to help control costs, but they’re not as high as they once were. Last year, Wisconsin officials said, the expanded subsidies saved enrollees an average of $664 a month on their health insurance plans.

KFF’s report found that nearly 80% of people nationwide who changed or dropped their coverage cited cost as the main factor.

Neighboring states Minnesota and Michigan saw significantly higher declines in ACA coverage of around 27%. Illinois saw a negligible decrease in coverage, but it offers its own health insurance marketplace.

Hospitals and clinics rely on a mixture of funding sources to stay financially solvent, including private insurance and reimbursements from Medicaid and Medicare. Health systems set prices to allow them to recoup the costs of caring for individuals who show up in the emergency room without health insurance. Any increase in uninsured patients who are unlikely to be able to pay runs the risk of increasing costs for other payers.

© 2026 The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wis.). Visit www.wisconsinstatejournal.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.