Protect Our Care Wisconsin: Statement: As ACA open enrollment ends for millions more, hard-working Americans are faced with unfathomable choices

Washington, D.C. – Tomorrow marks the final day to enroll in 2026 Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans across eight states and Washington, D.C. Because Donald Trump and congressional Republicans ripped away ACA tax credits from nearly 22 million Americans to bankroll tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations, premiums have more than doubled on average for working families. With open enrollment coming to a full close, millions trapped in the GOP’s health care affordability crisis are now forced to make gut-wrenching decisions about their futures. Already, more than one million Americans have dropped ACA coverage — a number that will continue to snowball as more and more families, month after month, realize that the Trump-GOP premium hikes are unbearable. Ending their pain and suffering isn’t rocket science. The solution is the three-year, clean extension of the ACA tax credits that passed the House of Representatives and is sitting on Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s desk.
 

“Tomorrow marks the final nail in the coffin for working people already stretched to the brink in Trump’s unaffordable America. Now, millions are facing the deadline for harrowing choices,” said Protect Our Care President Brad Woodhouse. “Do they fork out hundreds to thousands of dollars to pay the premium hikes? Or do they forgo health insurance and pray a medical emergency doesn’t wipe out their life savings? Do they shut down the small business they poured blood, sweat, and tears into building? Or do they make the impossible choice between paying their rent and groceries?

“All this pain and misery is no accident. It is the direct result of an out-of-touch Republican Party that just can’t seem to understand the lives of their own constituents. But the American people know they sit around the kitchen table, bills spread out, making agonizing decisions about their futures, all because Donald Trump and congressional Republicans decided to put billionaires and big corporations over working people.”

Background: 

This open enrollment, GOP premium hikes are:

• Putting health care out of reach for over 1 million Americans compared to the end of open enrollment last year, all to give tax breaks to billionaires and corporations. 
• Doubling and tripling premiums for 22 million hardworking Americans, including small business owners, farmers, and older adults.
• Forcing middle-class families to pay $20 billion in higher health care costs in 2026, while CEOs and yacht owners pocket $120 billion in tax breaks from the GOP tax scam in 2026.
• Forcing an estimated one in three Americans who buy health care on their own to reduce their coverage and pay thousands more each year in health care costs.
• Pressuring countless families to cut back on food, clothing, and other basics to afford health insurance and greater out-of-pocket costs.

This spring, the full scale of the Trump-GOP premium disaster will become clear as:

• Families are forced to choose between groceries and paying their premiums and realize they can no longer afford health care if they want to keep food on the table.
• Millions of Americans who were auto–reenrolled are kicked off their coverage when they get health care bills two to three times higher and cannot afford to pay them.
• Huge declines in effectuated enrollment are reported after families are unable to stretch their budgets to cover both GOP health care hikes and the cost of Trump tariffs.

States Hardest Hit By GOP Premium Hikes

Sources: CMS 2025 Open Enrollment Period Report and CMS 2026 Open Enrollment Period Report *final numbers yet to be reported