REPUBLICAN SHUTDOWN DAY 8: Senator Murray Joins Washingtonians Who Rely on ACA Tax Credits to Call on Republicans to Prevent Premiums from Doubling for Millions of Americans

KFF: 8 in 10 Americans Say Congress Should Extend the Enhanced ACA Tax Credits Set to Expire Next Year, Including Most Republicans and MAGA Supporters

KFF: ACA Marketplace Premium Payments Will More than Double on Average Next Year if Enhanced Premium Tax Credits Expire

***WATCH full press conference HERE; DOWNLOAD HERE***

Washington, D.C. - Today,U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, held a virtual press conference on the eighth day of the Republican shutdown with Washington state residents and small business owners who rely on Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits to afford health care. Joining Senator Murray for the press conference were Rebecca Staffel, a freelancer in Seattle, and Jason Lohr-Johnson, a self-employed video producer in Seattle, both of whom rely on the ACA tax credits to afford health insurance.

At the press conference, Senator Murray called out Republicans for refusing to come to the table to negotiate a deal with Democrats to protect Americans' health care. For months, Republicans have refused to extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits, and if they are not extended soon, 22 million Americans across the country-including more than 216,000 people in Washington state-will see their health care costs spike in January. According to KFF, premiums will more than double for Americans who buy health care through the ACA exchanges, and these higher costs will push 4.2 million people off their health coverage over the next decade-including an estimated 80,000 people in Washington state, where health insurers have been approved for an average rate hike of 21 percent. A Washington-state specific fact sheet on the ACA tax credits is HERE.

Senator Murray has been speaking out nonstop about the urgent need to save health care and keep the government open and calling on Republicans to come to the negotiating table to work out a bipartisan deal-which they have so far refused to do. As the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Murray leads legislation supported by the Democratic caucus that would reopen the government, address the health care crisis, and protect Congress' power of the purse from Donald Trump and Russ Vought's nonstop, lawless efforts to block funding from reaching communities across the country.

"On average, families who lose these tax credits are going to see their monthly premiums more than double. Some people will see their premiums costs triple, even quadruple. For many people, premiums will jump by over a thousand dollars a month. There are going to be millions of people who simply will not be able to stay uninsured, including an estimated 80,000 people in Washington state. In fact, there's a new poll this week found that seven out of ten families would not be able to afford their coverage if premiums double, and four in ten would likely just go uninsured," said Senator Murray. "That is the reality Republicans are now refusing to address. And if Republicans continue this refusal to act, it will mean people across America skip basic care, or skimp on prescriptions, or miss out on life-saving treatments. This was completely avoidable. It is completely avoidable. But only if Republican leaders stop sitting on their hands and start sitting at the negotiating table."

Senator Murray played a critical role in passing the enhanced premium tax credits in the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 and extending them in the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, and she has been fighting for months to make sure these important health care tax credits don't expire, including cosponsoring multiple pieces of legislation-the Health Care Affordability Act and the Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act-that would make them permanent.

"I left the corporate world to go out on my own and try consulting and freelancing, giving me the flexibility to be available to my aging parents and to our 20-something year-old daughter as she launches into her own adult life. If we didn't have the possibility of getting individual coverage, we wouldn't be able to create jobs, pay those taxes, or be available to our family… I am terrified about the loss of the extended premium tax credits. My estimate is that our payments will increase more than $1300 a month for our current Bronze plan coverage, and that's before any increases in premiums-honestly, I haven't had the stomach to figure out what our true cost is going to be next year. It feels crazy to spend $22,000 per year just so we can each see the doctor once and get a couple of screenings," said Rebecca Staffel, a freelance worker in Seattle who relies on ACA tax credits to afford health insurance. "The loss of the tax credits means we will have to look for a super basic catastrophic plan next year or just opt to go without and hope for the best. $22,000 is a lot of money. We are going to make sure we have final appointments with our doctors in the next couple months with this assumption in mind. Frankly, I think this situation is devastating and anti-small-business. It makes no sense at all in a country where we say we value innovation and entrepreneurs."

"I've looked into the numbers and they will more than double if this tax credit is removed, and it ends up being almost 60 percent of our mortgage payment every month," said Jason Lohr-Johnson, a self-employed video producer in Seattle who relies on ACA tax credits to afford health insurance. "There are so many more millions and millions of Americans across the country that are going to be even more negatively impacted by this than we are-and it will be a struggle for us. We've considered going to just a catastrophic version of insurance, because then, if we have to pay that $22,000 plus annually, will it cost us less to just have catastrophic and pay out of pocket for things-that's a scary place to be. The system is definitely broken, and it's infuriating that this administration and the Republicans in Congress think that it's more important to extend and give more tax breaks to the wealthy on the backs and the health of tax paying Americans who are just working to get by and participate in their democracy. It's infuriating."

Senator Murray's remarks, as delivered on today's press call, are below:

"Thank you all for joining me today for this important conversation. Right now, Republicans are doing everything they can to distract from and ignore the health care crisis that is inching closer every single day.

"But no matter how far they stick their heads in the sand, it is not going to change the fact that health care tax credits that millions of families rely on to afford their coverage are about to disappear.

"It won't change the fact that right now, insurance companies are finalizing massive premium hikes for next year. And it won't change the fact that states are going to be sending out notices of eye-popping price hikes to families across the country in the coming days and weeks.

"That is going to be so devastating-some of the biggest health care price increases for families in our nation's history.

"On average, families who lose these tax credits are going to see their monthly premiums more than double. Some people will see their premiums costs triple, even quadruple. For many people, premiums will jump by over a thousand dollars a month.

"There are going to be millions of people who simply will not be able to stay uninsured, including an estimated 80,000 people in Washington state.

"In fact, there's a new poll this week found that seven out of ten families would not be able to afford their coverage if premiums double, and four in ten would likely just go uninsured.

"That is the reality Republicans are now refusing to address. And if Republicans continue this refusal to act, it will mean people across America skip basic care, or skimp on prescriptions, or miss out on life-saving treatments.

"This was completely avoidable. It is completely avoidable. But only if Republican leaders stop sitting on their hands, and start sitting at the negotiating table.

"However, right now, they are refusing to budge. So far, all they'll say is 'later,' as if we haven't been asking them for months to work with us to address this. As if we weren't already at the midnight hour.

"Seriously, open enrollment in Idaho starts next week!

"Republican leaders are so determined to dodge this issue, they would rather shut down the government than work on solutions.

"But Republicans should know: they can shut down the government, but they cannot shut down debate. And they can't shut out the voices of families who are so worried about skyrocketing health care costs.

"And that's what conversations like this are about.

"If Republican leaders don't want to talk with Democrats about opening the government and stopping premiums from doubling, well, we are going to talk to the American people about what is at stake.

"We are going to lift up the voices of families who are worried their premiums will double. We are going to lift up the voices of patients worried they won't be able to afford the care they need. We are going to lift up the voices of people worried they won't be able to fill their prescription.

"And we will have the conversations Republicans are trying to avoid, make your voices heard in the halls of Congress, and fight tooth and nail, to address this health care crisis that Republicans have caused."

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