CT Dems are holding firm on health care. This is why

A Quiet Corner town that favored President Donald Trump by nine percentage points in 2024 is home to a couple in their 60s who face a $31,413 increase in the health coverage they buy through Access Health CT, the insurance marketplace established by the Affordable Care Act.

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, doesn’t know who they are or how they voted, but he said Friday the couple from Putnam and others like them are the reason Democrats refused to vote for a Republican plan that would have kept the federal government open though Nov. 21.

The GOP refused to include a Democratic provision that would have extended expiring tax credits that subsidize the health premiums that 142,000 Connecticut residents pay. Without the extension, premiums for 2026 will more than double, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Courtney and the other four House members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation gathered Friday at the downtown Hartford offices of Access Health CT to explain their stand and rebut false, oft-repeated Republican claims that their intent is to provide health care for undocumented immigrants.

“The law is very clear: You have to be a U.S. citizen or someone who is lawfully present in the country to apply for the Affordable Care Act coverage. The claim that illegal immigrants are eligible is just an absolute total falsehood,”  Courtney said.

“This is easy to research,” said U.S. Rep. Jahan Hayes, D-5th District. “It’s a verifiable fact that undocumented immigrants cannot access the Affordable Care Act. So I’m really unclear why this question keeps being asked. It should be very simple. I read the legislation, I looked at the law. This is what it says.”

At issue is an enhanced tax credit that was created in 2021 and extended through 2025. Pegged to income, it lowered the costs of premiums and contributed to a more-than-doubling of enrollment in what is popularly known as Obamacare, from 11 million to 24 million, according to Kaiser.

In Connecticut, the enhanced tax credit saves consumers $400 million annually, said James Michel, the chief executive officer of Access Health CT.

The marketplace verifies immigration status of applicants and is barred from enrolling anyone who is in the country without legal status, Michel said.

“Extending the premium tax credit is not going to change that,” Michel said.

Details about the Putnam couple, who make $85,000 annually, and nine others were drawn from Access Health CT files, Michel said. 

A family of three in Milford with a newborn and annual income of $109,000 can expect a premium increase of $10,729. The other examples came from across the state and featured customers of varying incomes, ages and numbers of dependents.

“We are here today to make it crystal clear that tens of thousands of families in Connecticut will pay much more for the health insurance premium next year unless Congress and the White House take steps to agree to a bipartisan solution,” Michel said. 

Republicans say the issue of the extension can be put off until December. But Michel said there is an urgency: Notices of new premiums go out on Oct. 20, and payments must be received in December to continue coverage.

Congressional Democrats are holding similar events across the U.S. to make clear that the issue separating the Democrats and Republicans is relatively narrow.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, who has negotiated budget deals as the chair and ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, said the White House is more interested in punitive power politics than striking a deal.

“The president said it’s a waste of time, a waste of time to negotiate” with Democratic leaders, DeLauro said. “He further said to Republicans, ‘What you need to do is to jam the Republican continuing resolution down the throat of the Democrats.’ I ask you, is that a good faith effort to come together?”

Politico reported Tuesday that Trump, mindful of the thin Republican majority in the House, has been more open to extending the credits than some congressional hardliners.

Courtney noted that Tony Fabrizio, a Trump pollster, has warned Republicans in competitive districts that a spike in health premiums could cost them the majority. Courtney, DeLauro, Hayes, John B. Larson of the 1st and Jim Himes of the 4th agreed that real negotiations will not come until Republicans feel the heat from constituents.

“When they get the pressure that says, ‘Congressman, Congresswoman … you’re either with us, or maybe we’re not going to be with you,’ when that happens, the tipping point occurs,” DeLauro said.

Larson said Republicans need to assert themselves as independent of the White House, or they will be “the puppets who will not negotiate unless Donald tells them it’s OK.”

Himes warned that an unaffordable spike in premiums would put the ACA health exchanges into a death spiral by driving out young, healthy policy holders and making the pool of policy holders older, sicker and more expensive to treat.

“They’re going to destabilize the insurance markets, and when that happens, premiums get into a death spiral and keep rising,” Himes said.

Hayes said no one should expect the state to replace the tax credits.

“I think we need to manage expectations. No state has money to backfill all of the cuts to federal programs that are coming down,” she said.