IFPTE Tells Congress to Contain Health Insurance Costs and Pass Bipartisan Bill to Extend ACA Tax Credits
Ahead of the House of Representative’s vote on H.R. 1834, a bipartisan three-year extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits, which expired at the end of 2025, IFPTE called on lawmakers to pass the bill to prevent some 5 million Americans from being uninsured and raising costs of health care for ACA policy holders and all people in the U.S. health care system. The bill passed the House with bipartisan support and, after a bipartisan discharge petition, brought the bill to the House floor against the wishes of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
IFPTE’s letter argues that, “The expiration of these ACA tax credits will not only impact ACA marketplace enrollees who rely on these tax credits. As the number of the uninsured grows and ACA premium increases drive out those who perceive themselves as healthy or low risk, the costs of uncompensated care and a destabilized health insurance risk pool will also result in an increase in health insurance across the whole U.S. health system, including for those who get their healthcare from their employers.”
While IFPTE members are covered by employer-sponsored health insurance, the rise in the number of uninsured due to the expiration of the ACA tax credits -- plus the fact that those who opt out of ACA coverage will likely be younger or healthier people who lower the health insurance costs for everyone in the insurance risk pool -- will result in increases in uncompensated care and increases in overall health costs for everyone. In 2024, the Congressional Budget Office outlined these impacts on the uninsured population and the cost of health insurance if the enhanced ACA tax credits expire. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s 2025 analysis finds that "The burden of the additional $7.7 billion in uncompensated care would fall on all provider types: about $2.2 billion on hospitals, $1.0 billion on physician offices, $3.1 billion on other services, and $1.5 billion on prescription drugs.” Those costs would be passed on through the health insurance marketplace as well as to state, local, and federal governments.