Gallego Hosts Town Hall in in Tucson, Calls on Congressional Republicans to Show Courage

WASHINGTON - Yesterday, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) hosted a health care town hall in Congressional District 6 to hear directly from Arizonans struggling with skyrocketing health care premiums following Republicans' failure to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits. Senator Gallego challenged Representative Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ-06) to come to the town hall and explain these skyrocketing costs to his constituents. Ciscomani did not show.

Senator Gallego has made protecting affordable health care a top priority, voting noon the Republicans continuing resolution, calling on Arizona insurers to be transparent about premium hikes, urging House Republicans to return to Washington to prevent health care spikes and demanding the Trump administration stop hiding premium hikes.

Senator Gallego was joined at the town hall by Tucson Mayor Regina Romero.

Watch the town hall HERE and read excerpts from his opening remarks below:

Senator Gallego opened the town hall by remembering the late Senator John McCain's decisive vote to protect the ACA in 2017. He urged Republicans in Congress to show that same courage as 24 million Americans face the possibility of their premiums doubling:

"One of the greatest things I saw […] was another senator from Arizona that really did save the ACA, and more importantly, hundreds of thousands of lives of Americans across the country. It was John McCain. […] At that point I was in the House, in my House office, and I turned on the TV and I saw it was the last vote for the ACA on the Senate floor. And I thought, I need to go see this, and I want to go see this in person. […] I was there when I saw this courageous act of Senator McCain, when he realized that there was no solution that was going to end up making this country healthier, safer, and that the hundreds of millions of Americans weren't going to be affected in a negative way. That's when we saw his thumb down. Right now, what we're asking for is, again, political courage. And actually, I don't even think it takes that much courage to say 'I want to protect 24 million Americans from having their insurance premiums doubled.' I think that actually is probably a pretty easy home run no matter if you're a Democrat or Republican. Now, you'd argue that maybe we could do some fixes here and there, maybe we do it for a year or two. But it doesn't require that much courage for Juan Ciscomani or other Republicans to say, I don't want this band-aid to get ripped off. I don't want hundreds of thousands of Arizonans overnight seeing insurance premiums doubled."

Senator Gallego also highlighted the stories he's heard from families across Arizona who are already being hit with skyrocketing insurance costs and the real-world sacrifices these families will have to make as a result:

"There's one family up in Gilbert, Arizona that I met, Mr. Gomez, and a family of four. He has his own contracting job, he is paying his taxes, he's buying the ACA. He just got his estimate back, and his increase is gonna be more than $3,000 a month. No one can withstand that. No one can withstand that. And why is this happening? This is an option. This is an option that my colleagues on the right are taking because they dislike the ACA. They hate the Affordable Care Act, and this is step one to start destroying that. But the problem with that is this isn't a policy thing. This isn't something you just get to talk to in a theoretical world. You are affecting people's lives."

"For many of us that grew up working class and poor, we know the budget. […] What happens when they just added an extra $500 a month your insurance? Something has to give. And something's gonna have to give. You're going to miss a utility payment, you're going to miss paying for something, or you're not going to have health insurance. That's the problem that we're putting Americans in right now."

Before opening the room to questions, Senator Gallego called on Republicans like Ciscomani to act to save the ACA tax credits and Arizonans' lives:

"[Congressional Republicans] need to understand this isn't about partnership. This is about health care. This is my family's health care. Is my neighbor's health care. What you're going to do is put them in danger. You're gonna put their health in danger just to save money for the very rich who do not need extra tax cuts."

11/15/25