Shaheen: Failure to Extend Enhanced Premium Tax Credits is a Massive Blow to Small Businesses that Create Jobs and Power Local Economies

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the former Chair of the U.S. Senate Small Business Committee and author of bicameral legislation to permanently extend Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits, released the following statement on new findings from the Kaiser Family Foundation estimating that 48% of people with individual market coverage are either employed by a small business with fewer than 25 workers, self-employed entrepreneurs or small business owners. The enhanced premium tax credits—which Shaheen has championed for years—have lowered premium costs for enrollees across the Marketplaces. If those subsidies expire as scheduled at the end of the year, individual market enrollees—including many people tied to small businesses—would face higher out-of-pocket premiums.

“Failing to extend these highly effective tax credits won’t just be a huge hit for household finances, it will also present massive challenges to American small businesses already struggling in President Trump’s economy. Almost half of all the enrollees on the individual market either own or work at a small business – that means local entrepreneurs and workers are going to be hit hard if Republicans fail to act.

“Americans are facing the largest increase in health care premiums in 15 years at a time when the cost of living is already far too high. Extending these tax credits is an immediate and concrete step we can take to give families more breathing room in their household budget on one of the most important expenses they face.

“My Republican colleagues have blocked my bill to extend these tax credits three times. If they want to avoid serious damage to our economy when it’s already weak, and if we want to work together to bring down prices, the time to act is now. The clock is ticking.”

For many small business employees and self-employed individuals, the individual market functions as their main source of comprehensive health insurance outside of traditional employer coverage. Unlike larger firms, small businesses are less likely to offer health benefits to their employees, leaving workers and entrepreneurs dependent on the affordability and stability of the individual market.

Last week, Shaheen and a group of her colleagues published the findings from a report they commissioned detailing the disastrous impacts Republican-led cuts to health care, including allowing enhanced premium tax credits to expire this year, will have on Americans’ health insurance plans. The report, crafted by the Georgetown Center on Health Insurance Reforms, outlines a 75% increase in net premiums, the largest rate change insurers have requested since 2018, the last time that policy uncertainty contributed to sharp premium increases, and coverage loss for millions of Americans fueled by expiring Affordable Care Act enhanced PTCs, President Trump’s tariff policies, cuts to health care in the “Big Beautiful Betrayal” and rising health care costs. The report finds that low- and middle-income Americans that are older and living in rural areas will be disproportionately affected, and that one commonly cited factor driving 2026 rate increases is the looming expiration of enhanced PTCs.

Shaheen champions efforts in Congress to make health care more affordable and accessible for Granite Staters and all Americans. Shaheen’s first bill introduction this Congress was her landmark Health Care Affordability Act—bicameral legislation with U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and U.S. Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (IL-14) to permanently extend enhanced premium tax credits for Marketplace coverage that have lowered health care costs for millions of Americans. In July, Shaheen delivered remarks alongside her Senate colleagues about the consequences of allowing the vital tax credits to expire at the end of this year.

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