Press Release Nevada
Memos & Media Guidance
MEMO: On 16th Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, Nearly Five Million Americans Set to Lose Coverage After Republicans Let ACA Tax Credits Expire
TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Reproductive Freedom for All
RE: On 16th Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, Nearly Five Million Americans Set to Lose Coverage After Republicans Let ACA Tax Credits Expire
DATE: Monday, March 23, 2026
On 16th Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, Nearly Five Million Americans Set to Lose Coverage After Republicans Let ACA Tax Credits Expire
Today marks the 16th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)—the law that expanded access to affordable health care coverage for millions of Americans. Sixteen years later, 22 million Americans are facing skyrocketing premiums, increasing by an average of 114 percent, because Congressional Republicans let the enhanced premium tax credits expire. Nearly five million people are projected to lose coverage this year entirely, and there has been a sharp increase in recipients downgrading to the lowest tier of coverage, with deductibles so high they often price people out of the care they need.
Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju released the following statement:
“Families are losing sleep as costs skyrocket and care slips further out of reach. Congressional Republicans refused to come to the table to lower costs, choosing instead to turn this into a partisan fight and inject Trump’s extreme anti-abortion agenda. They could have prevented this, and they can still fix it. Instead, they have spent every day in 2026 pandering to special interest groups, and attacking voting rights ahead of critical midterm elections.”
Congressional Republicans chose to let the credits expire during last year’s 43-day government shutdown that they created, instead of coming to the table to find a solution. Democrats held firm on a clean three-year extension that Republican lawmakers had numerous opportunities to support, and still they refused. The reality is that they never intended to extend these credits to begin with. Rather than focusing on what would be best for the health and wellbeing of their communities and the people they represent, GOP lawmakers prioritized what would score them more political points with Trump and anti-abortion groups—all while using disinformation about abortion coverage as a smokescreen.
Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune responded with a flood of disinformation about ACA abortion coverage—misrepresenting the Hyde Amendment, which has prohibited federal funding for abortion since 1976, to manufacture a sticking point that had no business in a health care debate. Meanwhile, they handed fringe groups like Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America unprecedented leverage to push restrictions that go far beyond existing law. It’s unprecedented and extreme that Republicans have made abortion a factor in whether Americans can afford health care—and families in every state are now paying more to be covered for less.
Since January 1, more than 1.2 million Americans have dropped their coverage, and nearly five million are projected to lose coverage entirely this year. Millions more face a different kind of impossible choice: pay premiums they can no longer afford, or downgrade to the lowest tier of coverage. More Americans are choosing the latter than ever before—and bronze plans come with a catch. The average deductible is $7,476, nearly 40 percent more expensive than the next tier up, meaning people who kept their coverage are still being priced out of the care they need.
These are families rationing insulin, skipping cancer screenings, and choosing between groceries and a premium they can no longer afford. At the same time, many of these same families have seen their reproductive choices stripped away by extreme abortion bans. Taking away the ability to see a doctor, afford to plan a family, and have the autonomy to make decisions about your own body is about control—a top priority of the Trump administration.
Reproductive Freedom for All and our four million members have spent the last decade proving that when voters understand what’s at stake—their health care, their bodies, their families’ futures—they show up. The lawmakers who are gutting the lifesaving resources the Affordable Care Act has afforded for sixteen years now will have to answer for it at the polls.
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For over 55 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.