As we begin to close out the year, millions of families with marketplace coverage are bracing for a sharp increase in their health insurance costs. The Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits—which have kept coverage affordable for more than 20 million Americans—are set to expire at the end of 2025.
Instead of focusing on a simple extension that would preserve this affordability, Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Rick Scott (R-FL) have proposed a patchwork of policies that shift costs onto patients while weakening the insurance markets families rely on.
These proposals want to replace meaningful financial assistance with health savings account deposits, push people into high-deductible health plans, and expand lower-value coverage options. These changes won’t lower premiums or reduce underlying health care costs; they will simply leave families paying more out-of-pocket for less coverage. Worse, their proposals could destabilize the market. By steering healthier people into skimpier coverage, premiums go up for everyone else.
At a time when the cost of living continues to climb, Americans cannot afford any health care plan that makes health insurance more expensive. The simplest and most effective solution is for Congress to extend the enhanced premium tax credits, keeping marketplace coverage affordable and protecting families from financial shocks.
Sincerely,
Natasha Murphy Director, Health Policy Center for American Progress
Natasha Murphy on ‘Deadline D.C.’
Natasha explains the urgent need to extend the ACA's enhanced tax credits on “Deadline D.C.” with Brad Bannon: "We right now are staring down the cliff of pretty much a premium affordability crisis."
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Americans are facing increasing utility costs across the country
Utility customers across America are feeling the burden of rising costs. In collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a Center for American Progress analysis finds that since January 2025, increases and proposed increases in electric and natural gas rates will affect more than 108 million electricity customers and nearly 49 million natural gas customers across the United States. These rising costs, driven by factors such as an aging electric grid, higher natural gas prices, and a policy assault on new clean energy generation from the Trump administration, are making life more unaffordable for customers across 49 states and Washington, D.C.
CAP and the NRDC’s updated tracker details electric and natural gas rate increases by utility companies across America, including an analysis of monthly residential bill impacts. Collectively, these newly enacted and proposed rate increases would raise electricity and natural gas customers’ bills by $67.7 billion and $18.1 billion, respectively, by 2028.
Check out the tracker below to see how increasing utility rates may affect you and your community. If your energy bill has increased and is not reflected in the tracker, please fill out this form.
The Supreme Court's ruling on Trump’s firing of the FTC commissioner will affect all federal agencies
Photo: Getty Images
This week the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case of Trump v. Slaughter, which concerns the firing of former Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter. Should the Supreme Court side with the administration’s firing of Slaughter despite 90 years of precedent insulating the heads of independent agencies from political pressure, this White House—and presidents to come—will see its powers expand dramatically. This would threaten the ability of critical independent agencies to protect and promote the interests of the American people.
CAP has been a leader in advocating for the protection of independent agencies and their leaders from the whims of political meddling and authoritarian overreach, and has convened leaders of such agencies for candid, necessary discussions on the vitally important role that independent agencies play in our system of government. Far more than an attack on an individual FTC commissioner, this action from the Trump administration is just one piece of a broader authoritarian, undemocratic agenda.
