Evers Warns ACA Premiums Will ‘Skyrocket’ Unless Congress Acts
Governor warns of 200% to 800% hikes unless Republicans extend tax credits.
Gov. Tony Evers delivers the State of the State address Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Gov. Tony Evers says insurance rates for many covered through Wisconsin’s Affordable Care Act exchange will increase by between 200 to 800 percent next year unless Congress extends tax credits that are set to expire Dec. 31.
In a press release, Evers said data from the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance shows a family of four making $130,000 will see their ACA premiums increase by between $12,562 and $24,569 next year, depending on what county they live in.
For a 60-year-old couple making about $86,000, the annual cost for premiums would rise by between $19,833 and $33,152, depending on where they live. According to the statement, a 26-year-old making $48,000 per year will see their ACA premiums jump by between $1,335 and $2,128.
During a virtual press conference with Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin; U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee; and U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Town of Vermont, Evers pointed the blame squarely at President Donald Trump and Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate.
“Government has been shut down for weeks now because Republicans refuse to work with Democrats to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits that help make health care more affordable for millions of Americans,” Evers said. “In 2025, 88 percent of Wisconsinites (who) enrolled in coverage on healthcare.gov, they qualified for tax credits saving an average of $664 a month.”
The extension of COVID-19 era ACA tax credit subsidies is a key pressure point in the ongoing federal government shutdown. Democrats refuse to support a stopgap funding bill without them. Meanwhile, Republican leaders want a clean bill without the tax credits included.
The federal government has been shut down since Oct. 1.
“I truly cannot emphasize this enough: This crisis was avoidable,” Baldwin said. “Wisconsin families do not have to pay an arm and a leg for health care. This is all a choice that my Republican colleagues are making.”
Republicans have roundly blamed Democrats for the standoff and stressed that the subsidies in question were never meant to be permanent.
In a statement, U.S. Rep. Tony Wied, R-De Pere, said the nation’s health care system needs broader reforms.
“The Affordable Care Act, which passed without a single Republican vote, has made healthcare anything but affordable,” Wied said. “Rather than pointing fingers at Republicans, Governor Evers should urge his friend, Senator Baldwin, to join us and vote to reopen the government so we can get to work on lowering healthcare costs for hardworking Wisconsin families.”
U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, has made several posts on the social media site X blaming Baldwin and other Democrats in the Senate for shutting down the government.
In a statement, Van Orden took aim at Evers, claiming he’s “either stupid or deliberately misleading people.”
“Democrats voted for ObamaCare fully aware that it relied on federal subsidies to function,” said Van Orden, adding that they had voted twice to extend additional temporary subsidies.
He said the government shutdown isn’t about the ACA, but it is about Democrats “being terrified of losing their jobs to their left wing, as many of them are now admitting.”
Van Orden and other Republicans pointed to Democrats’ passage of the Inflation Reduction Act when they controlled Congress in 2022. While that law established the ACA enhanced premium tax credits, it also called for their sunset at the end of this year.
Baldwin cited the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act as one of her proudest accomplishments from her time in Congress, adding that “if it were my choice, these tax breaks would be permanent.”
“I lead the very bill that would do just that,” Baldwin said. “We’ve tried to pass it again and again. In the Senate, we have now voted to stop these tax credits from disappearing 10 times. Each time, my Republican colleagues have shot it down.”
Baldwin, Pocan and Moore also referenced Republicans’ passage of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July, which permanently extended tax cuts that were set to expire.
When asked about promises from Republican leaders that negotiations on the ACA tax credit extension will happen after Democrats support what Republicans call a clean, short-term government funding bill, Baldwin said the extension is too important an issue to rely on “a wink and a nod” from Republicans.
“We can do both,” Baldwin said. “That’s what this is all about. It’s in our job descriptions to negotiate, to compromise, to talk, to discuss. That’s what we do.”
As Democrats and Republicans point fingers over which party is to blame for the ongoing shutdown, an Oct. 22 Quinnipiac University survey of 1,327 self-identified registered voters in the U.S. found that 45 percent of respondents said it’s Republicans’ fault, while 39 percent blamed Democrats.
Evers says ACA premiums will ‘skyrocket’ unless Congress extends tax credits was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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