Luján Joins Senate Democrats in Requesting Report on Looming Health Insurance Impacts Following Republican Cuts to Medicaid and Premium Tax Credits
Santa Fe, N.M. – U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) joined Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), and a group of Senate Democrats in requesting a detailed analysis of how Republican-led cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will impact Americans’ health insurance. In a letter to the Georgetown Center on Health Insurance Reforms, Senator Luján and his colleagues raised urgent concerns about rising premiums and reduced coverage options in the wake of Republican actions that slashed support for affordable health care.
Senator Luján has long championed efforts to lower health care costs for families in New Mexico and across the country. As part of that commitment, he recently introduced legislation to reverse the Republican-led cuts and permanently extend the ACA’s premium tax credits.
The Senators wrote, in part: “We are deeply concerned about the impacts of actions that Trump and Republicans have taken, including finalizing rules that will ensnare Americans in needless red tape, diminish benefits, increase copayments, and stand up verification hurdles in their reconciliation bill, all while refusing to extend tax credits that lower families’ premiums.”
The Senators continued: “While Republicans in the House and Senate chose to extend nearly $4 trillion in tax cuts to benefit the ultra-wealthy and big corporations, they did not extend enhanced premium tax credits that almost 20 million middle-class and working Americans rely on. […] Failure to extend these tax credits will cause premiums to skyrocket by 75% on average, meaning Americans could be saddled with rising health care costs beginning January 1, 2026.”
The Senators concluded: “Health insurers have submitted public rate filings that often include double-digit increases, demonstrating that the combination of these policy choices contribute to insurer uncertainty. What this data does not directly address is how insurer action will translate to health plan costs and insurance plan availability for the 24 million working Americans who buy their insurance through the ACA Marketplaces, including nearly 3 million small business owners, almost 5 million near retirees (ages 50+), and over one million children. To help us better understand how the rate filings will impact choice and affordability, we are interested in the Center on Health Insurance Reforms’ analysis of how policymakers and Americans should prepare for the changes indicated by rate filings.”
In addition to Senators Luján, Schumer, Shaheen, Wyden, Baldwin, and Warner, the letter was co-signed Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Angus King (I-ME), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Gary Peters (D-MI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Patty Murray (D-WA).
Click here to view the full letter text.
