Lawmakers are scrambling to address skyrocketing health care costs in the final days before Congress leaves Washington for the holidays, with enhanced tax credits that make insurance premiums more affordable for millions of Americans set to expire at the end of the month.

WASHINGTON — Four centrist Republicans broke with Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday and signed onto a Democratic-led petition that will force a House vote on extending for three years an enhanced pandemic-era subsidy that lowers health insurance costs for millions of Americans.

With subsidies that help consumers pay their health insurance premiums set to expire, health care shoppers face staggering prices. Lawmakers are running out of time to agree on a solution.

If the enhanced credits currently available to Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace enrollees are allowed to expire for 2026, the Urban Foundation predicts that 7.3 million people will lose their subsidies. Roughly 4.8 million people could become uninsured entirely.

Health care advocates and progressive groups across Florida said the U.S. Senate’s failure to extend premium subsidies for the Affordable Care Act was a “disheartening setback” that will significantly raise the cost of health insurance for nearly 5 million Floridians,

The cost of health insurance provided through Oregon employers reached record levels last year, adding to the financial pressure many families already feel from rising health care costs. In Oregon, the average annual premiums climbed to $24,

The open enrollment period for health insurance in Massachusetts for 2026, began on Nov. 1, 2025. The deadline for a plan starting Jan. 1 is Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025.