U.S. Representative Ed Case joined 34 House colleagues in the release of their Commonground 2025: A Bipartisan Health Care Framework to address the impending expiration of critical premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace enrollees.

Their Bipartisan Health Care Framework would prevent impending drastic increases in premiums in 2026 for the more than 24 million Americans who get their health insurance through the ACA marketplaces including nearly 25,000 Hawai‘i residents. In most cases, the ACA is the only health insurance option available to participants, so the practical effect of its expiration would be not only dramatic premium increases but millions without health insurance.

Since the passage of the enhanced premium tax credits, enrollment in ACA plans has increased from 11 million to more than 24 million people. If these enhanced premium tax credits are not extended by December 31, 2025, enrollees could see their premiums jump more than double on average, with some individuals seeing even greater increases. To address the looming crisis, Case and his bipartisan group have worked behind-the-scenes over the last several months, including throughout the government shutdown which resulted in large part from the failure to address this central issue, to develop a solution they could all support and which would actually be able to pass Congress and be signed into law. Case continued:

The current premium tax credit provisions of the ACA expire on December 31st of this year. Congress must pass either a straight extension, or an extension with modifications as the group has proposed, or some other solution, by then, or the large premium increases if not loss of insurance
altogether will hit many if not most ACA participants in 2026.

Photo credit: Office of Representative Ed Case