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The number of Americans signing up for Affordable Care Act health insurance for 2026 is moderately higher than it was at a similar time last year, initial new federal data shows, even as subsidies set to expire at the end of 2025 will make the coverage more expensive for many. Seen at face value, the data from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services seems to defy predictions that many Americans facing pricier plans would drop out of marketplace coverage altogether next year. But experts caution that the numbers are an incomplete snapshot of total enrollment, which could still show a decline by the end of the open enrollment period. (Swenson and Forster, 12/8)

Millions of Americans are confronting the highest health insurance costs in years. For those enrolling in Obamacare for next year, the plans will cover a considerably smaller fraction of their medical bills. More and more people are discovering that their deductibles are rising significantly, worsening fears that they will no longer be able to pay for medical care. That’s on top of higher premiums; they could more than double. (Abelson, 12/8)

The latest on ACA subsidies —

Two key Senate Republican chairmen are circulating the outline of a health care plan to Republican offices ahead of a crucial week that could decide the fate of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, multiple sources tell Axios. (Sullivan and Kight, 12/8)

Senate Republicans have no shortage of health care plans. The challenge is getting all 53 of them to rally behind one. Three days before a high-profile vote on a Democratic proposal to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies, GOP senators are nowhere near coalescing behind any single alternative that could be put up alongside it. Instead, Republican leaders appear happy allowing their members to freelance, even as Democrats and some in their own ranks fume at the lack of clear direction. (Carney, 12/8)

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), the author of a bipartisan health care plan and a moderate Republican whose district voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, said taking no action on the expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies is “not an option.” In an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s “Inside Politics,” Fitpatrick pushed back against those in his party who oppose his plan to extend the enhanced ObamaCare tax credits, challenging them to counter with their own proposals. (Fortinsky, 12/8)

Republicans in key battleground U.S. House districts are working to contain the political fallout that may come when thousands of their constituents face higher bills for health insurance coverage obtained through the Affordable Care Act. For a critical sliver of the Republican majority, the impending expiration of what are called enhanced premium tax credits after Dec. 31 is a pressing concern as they potentially face headwinds in a 2026 midterm election that will be critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda. (Levy and Freking, 12/8)

More on the affordability of health care —

This past June, Ashley Voss-Barnes received a court summons in the mail. PrairieStar Health Center, a nonprofit community health center in south-central Kansas, was suing her for $675 and her wife for $732 in unpaid medical bills. Voss-Barnes knew the clinic received federal funding to make preventive health care accessible in a region where many families, including her own, needed financial help. (Swaby, 12/9)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Out-Of-Pocket Pain From High-Deductible Plans Means Skimping On Care
David Garza sometimes feels as if he doesn’t have health insurance now that he pays so much to treat his Type 2 diabetes. His monthly premium payment of $435 for family coverage is roughly the same as the insurance at his previous job. But the policy at his current job carries an annual deductible of $4,000, which he must pay out-of-pocket for his family’s care until he reaches that amount each year. “Now everything is full price,” said the 53-year-old, who works at a warehouse just south of Dallas-Fort Worth. “That’s been a little bit of a struggle.” (Huff, 12/9)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Trump’s Idea For Health Accounts Has Been Tried. Millions Of Patients Have Ended Up In Debt
Sarah Monroe once had a relatively comfortable middle-class life. She and her family lived in a neatly landscaped neighborhood near Cleveland. They had a six-figure income and health insurance. Then, four years ago, when Monroe was pregnant with twin girls, something started to feel off. “I kept having to come into the emergency room for fainting and other symptoms,” recalled Monroe, 43, who works for an insurance company. The babies were fine. But after months of tests and hospital trips, Monroe was diagnosed with a potentially dangerous heart condition. (Levey, 12/9)