United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator:
On behalf of our 3 million members and the 50 million students they serve, we urge you to VOTE YES on the Lower Health Care Costs Act (S. 3385) providing a three-year extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies to preserve access to health care for over 20 million Americans—entrepreneurs, self-employed contractors, and part-time workers whose employers don’t offer or help pay for insurance. We urge you to VOTE NO on the Health Care Freedom for Patients Act (S. 3386) built around health savings accounts and high-deductible insurance—an approach repeatedly rejected as unaffordable for working families.
Votes on this issue may be included in NEA’s report card for the 119th Congress.
Congress must act immediately or premiums on ACA marketplace plans will rise significantly—more than double, on average—come Jan. 1, the same day massive tax breaks for the ultra-rich become permanent under the GOP’s reconciliation bill. In the November KFF Health Tracking Poll, 74 percent of Americans supported extending the subsidies, including 94 percent of Democrats, 76 percent of Independents, and 50 percent of Republicans.
The impact of allowing the subsidies to expire would reverberate nationwide.
According to a KFF survey released last Thursday, one-quarter of those insured through ACA marketplaces are very likely to drop coverage if Congress allows the subsidies to expire. Earlier this year, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) projected that 4 million people now insured through ACA plans will lose coverage entirely if the subsidies end—on top of the 7.8 million losing Medicaid due to funding cuts and other provisions of the GOP’s reconciliation bill. Educators would be hit especially hard, with more than 10 percent of education support professionals (ESPs) relying on ACA plans or Medicaid.
In rural areas, the uninsured population would rise as hospital revenues fell, leading to consequences that literally determine life or death. Hospitals that are no longer financially viable would shut down entirely. Some could stay afloat by reducing services, staff, or both—eliminate essential, but unprofitable, services like maternity care, for example.
Now is the time for Congress to choose people over politics, to step up and be responsible. Every family—regardless of race, background, or ZIP code—deserves reliable access to affordable health care. Please VOTE YES on extending the ACA subsidies for three years.
Sincerely,
Kimberly Johnson Trinca
Director of Government Relations
National Education Association
