Baldwin Demands Report on Looming Impacts to Americans’ Health Care Following Republicans’ Cuts to Medicaid, Affordable Care Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) requested a detailed report of how Republican-led cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act will affect Americans’ health insurance plans. Republicans’ budget bill that was signed into law on July 4th is estimated to terminate more than 250,000 Wisconsinites’ health care, threatens to close rural hospitals, and could increase premium costs for others.

Baldwin led a group of her colleagues in asking the Georgetown Center on Health Insurance Reforms to produce a detailed analysis and answer a series of questions about how Americans should prepare for the changes indicated by health insurer rate filings in the wake of Republican actions to make unprecedented cuts to health care coverage.

“We are deeply concerned about the impacts of actions that Trump and Republicans have taken, including finalizing rules that will ensnare Americans in needless red tape, diminish benefits, increase copayments, and stand up verification hurdles in their reconciliation bill, all while refusing to extend tax credits that lower families’ premiums,” wrote Baldwin and the Senators.

“While Republicans in the House and Senate chose to extend nearly $4 trillion in tax cuts to benefit the ultra-wealthy and big corporations, they did not extend enhanced premium tax credits that almost 20 million middle-class and working Americans rely on. [...] Failure to extend these tax credits will cause premiums to skyrocket by 75% on average, meaning Americans could be saddled with rising health care costs beginning January 1, 2026,” Baldwin and the Senators continued.

“Health insurers have submitted public rate filings that often include double-digit increases, demonstrating that the combination of these policy choices contribute to insurer uncertainty. What this data does not directly address is how insurer action will translate to health plan costs and insurance plan availability for the 24 million working Americans who buy their insurance through the ACA Marketplaces, including nearly 3 million small business owners, almost 5 million near retirees (ages 50+), and over one million children. To help us better understand how the rate filings will impact choice and affordability, we are interested in the Center on Health Insurance Reforms’ analysis of how policymakers and Americans should prepare for the changes indicated by rate filings,” Baldwin and the Senators concluded.

Senator Baldwin has long championed legislation to extend the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits that help Americans afford health insurance. In January of this year, Senator Baldwin introduced her landmark Health Care Affordability Act—legislation to permanently extend enhanced premium tax credits for Marketplace coverage that have lowered health care costs for millions of Americans.

In addition to Senator Baldwin, the letter was led by Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Mark Warner (D-VA) and co-signed by eleven others.

The full text of the letter can be found here and below.

Dear Director Corlette,

On July 4, 2025, the President signed the Republican budget bill into law. This legislation cuts more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We are deeply concerned about the impacts of actions that Trump and Republicans have taken, including finalizing rules that will ensnare Americans in needless red tape, diminish benefits, increase copayments, and stand up verification hurdles in their reconciliation bill, all while refusing to extend tax credits that lower families’ premiums. Because of Republicans’ health care cuts, 15 million Americans will become uninsured, including about 7 million Americans who buy ACA coverage on the Marketplaces, and millions more will pay higher health care costs no matter how they receive their coverage.

While Republicans in the House and Senate chose to extend nearly $4 trillion in tax cuts to benefit the ultra-wealthy and big corporations, they did not extend enhanced premium tax credits that almost 20 million middle-class and working Americans rely on. These expanded tax credits, which lower the cost of health care for individuals and families who use the ACA Marketplace, will expire at the end of the calendar year. Failure to extend these tax credits will cause premiums to skyrocket by 75% on average, meaning Americans could be saddled with rising health care costs beginning January 1, 2026.

Health insurers have already taken the first steps to complete analysis on plan offerings for next year and their cost. This publicly available rate filing data is instructive for how insurers are responding to Republicans’ reckless actions, including:

1. Passage of H.R.1, the Republican reconciliation bill;
2. Finalization of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Marketplace Integrity and Affordability final rule;
3. Trump’s tariff policy; and
4. Failure to extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits.