{"id":277554,"date":"2025-10-04T16:38:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T16:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/277554\/"},"modified":"2025-10-04T16:38:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T16:38:21","slug":"officials-warn-minnesotans-health-care-premiums-could-spike-without-aca-tax-credit-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/277554\/","title":{"rendered":"Officials warn Minnesotans’ health care premiums could spike without ACA tax credit extension"},"content":{"rendered":"

Minnesota officials and advocates on Wednesday warned that without extension of a federal tax credit that lowers health insurance premiums \u2014 which are at the center of a dispute\u00a0<\/a>in Congress over government funding \u2014 thousands could see health care costs spike.<\/p>\n

The credit, established in 2021 in the COVID-era American Rescue Plan, helps more middle- and lower-income families afford policies purchased through the insurance marketplaces established by the Affordable Care Act. But it’s set to expire at the end of the year and Senate Democrats want those subsidies extended as part of a government funding measure. Their support is required because of the 60-vote threshold in the chamber in order to move forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the credits are not renewed, 90,000 Minnesotans will see an increase in their premiums, according to the Minnesota Department of Commerce.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rates for Minnesotans covered through the individual market will see a rate hike of 21.5% and those in small group plans will see their costs rise by 14.2% in 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We had anticipated an increase, but what we’re seeing is a real gut punch,” Grace Arnold, commissioner of the department, said in a news conference Wednesday. “This goes beyond the numbers. These hikes push real people to make impossible choices.”<\/p>\n

Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill are trading blame about who is responsible for the first government shutdown in nearly seven years. The House passed\u00a0a continuing resolution in mid-September<\/a> to keep the government funded at current levels until Nov. 21.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But both parties in the Senate failed to reach an agreement by the Oct. 1 midnight deadline, leaving hundreds of thousands of Americans in limbo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are roughly 18,000 federal workers in Minnesota, according to U.S. Office of Personnel Management\u00a0data from September 2024<\/a>. That doesn’t include active duty military or federal contractors. Almost all federal workers will go without a paycheck until Congress approves a funding plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Everyone is now asking the question: How does this end? Well, it ends once the Senate Democrats pick up this bill passed by the House of Representatives and vote for it,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, Wednesday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Neither the GOP’s or Democrats’ proposals to fund the government got enough support to pass Wednesday<\/a>\u00a0and there aren’t any additional votes scheduled until Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“When it comes to people’s premiums, it’s not a December problem. It’s not a January problem. It’s a now problem,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, DFL-Minnesota, said on Tuesday. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Arnold said the Affordable Care Tax Credits at issue largely impact middle class Minnesotans like farmers, small business owners and early retirees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She noted the Minnesota Legislature’s extension earlier this year of the reinsurance program<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 which increases the affordability of the individual market \u2014 staved off steeper premium increases.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gary Wertish, president of the Minnesota Farmers Union, said the higher health care costs come at a difficult time for farmers, more of whom are going into mediation<\/a> than the previous two years combined. It comes as China,\u00a0normally the No. 1 market<\/a>, is not purchasing any soybeans from the U.S.<\/p>\n

“A lot of farmers are going to be faced with a choice: buying a healthcare insurance policy versus making their loan payment to keep themselves out of foreclosure or, in some cases, putting food on the table,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Open enrollment<\/a> for 2026 health coverage begins next month.<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n

Caroline Cummings<\/a><\/p>\n

Caroline Cummings is an Emmy-winning reporter with a passion for covering politics, public policy and government. She is thrilled to join the WCCO team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minnesota officials and advocates on Wednesday warned that without extension of a federal tax credit that lowers health…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":277555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[27550,49089,210,1141,1142,80,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-277554","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-federal-government-of-the-united-states","9":"tag-government-shutdown","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-health-care","12":"tag-healthcare","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115316883635326630","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}