ICYMI: On NPR’s Morning Edition, Shaheen Highlights Growing Republican Recognition of Importance of Extending ACA Tax Credits to Prevent Premiums from Doubling

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), lead author of bicameral legislation that would permanently extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits, joined NPR Morning Edition today to discuss the need to both reopen the government and protect access to affordable health care by extending the soon-expiring tax credits. If Republicans in Congress and the White House refuse to extend the tax credits, new findings suggest that premiums could more than double and that four million Americans could lose their health insurance entirely. Click HERE to listen to Senator Shaheen’s full interview.

During the interview, Shaheen cited a growing acknowledgment from Republicans that something must be done to address the looming expiration – highlighting that 76% of the people who get these tax credits to make health care more affordable live in states that President Trump won in November. The Senator also pushed back on White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s claims that the administration will be forced to fire federal workers if the government stays shut.

Key quotes from Senator Shaheen:

• “We ought to both be able to reopen the government, keep the government open, and we ought to be able to make sure that we're not kicking 4 million people off of their health insurance and raising the costs, as we heard from Julie, almost over doubling for some cases, the cost of health insurance for another 20 million people, because that has real ramifications for the entire health care system.”

• “So this is going to have an impact on hospitals, on providers, on health clinics and we need to address it. And I'm encouraged that more and more of my Republican colleagues are saying, ‘Yes, we do need to address it. We recognize this.’ If you look at the data, 76% of people who benefit from these premium subsidies are in states that President Trump won in November. So the President, as we heard in his remarks yesterday, also is beginning to recognize that this is something that we need to address.”

• “And what we've heard from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is that if we don't address this until December, a million and a half people will lose their health insurance, and it's going to cost the federal government a lot more. So there are real reasons why getting this done quickly is important, and you know, it shouldn't be that difficult because nobody wants to see people who don't really need that help benefit from a program. We ought to all be able to agree that we don't want waste, fraud and abuse in the system. We ought to all be able to agree that the people who need this help the most are the ones who want to get it. And I think more and more people are recognizing that, yes, there is some real common ground that we should be able to find.”

• On the Trump Administration’s threat to fire federal workers: “The fact is, the Trump Administration from day one started firing federal employees. I'm the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, and I watched the painful exercise with DOGE when they came in and cut virtually all of USAID and the foreign assistance programs that the United States has. I've watched the Veterans Administration cut people and then have to hire people back. The Department of Agriculture fire people and then have to hire people back because they didn't know what people do. The Food and Drug Administration fire people and then have to hire people back because they didn't have enough inspectors for our food safety. So, it is totally inaccurate for this administration to claim that it's the shutdown that's causing them to fire people. It's the shutdown that's giving them more of an excuse to fire people. But this has been happening from day one.”

Shaheen is leading efforts in Congress to make health care more affordable through the preservation and extension of enhanced premium tax credits. Shaheen’s first bill introduction this Congress was her landmark Health Care Affordability Act—bicameral legislation with Senator Baldwin and U.S. Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (IL-14) to permanently extend the tax credits for Marketplace coverage that have lowered health care costs for millions of Americans.

Last week, Shaheen hosted a spotlight forum on the need for Congress to extend the soon-expiring tax credits that have made health care more affordable for tens of millions of Americans. The spotlight forum, entitled “The Clock is Ticking: Why Congress Must Extend the Enhanced Premium Tax Credits” featured several Democratic Senators and four witnesses.

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