The website of Connect for Health Colorado, the state’s health insurance marketplace, is seen in this photo: August 27, 2025. (Photo by Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)
WASHINGTON — Americans who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act platform are bracing for skyrocketing costs next year that many say they won’t be able to afford, according to a survey released Thursday by the nonpartisan health organization KFF.
Nearly 60% of respondents could not afford the cost of a $300 annual premium escalate, and an additional 20% said they could not afford a $1,000 annual price escalate.
About 90% of respondents said it would be somewhat or very tough for them to afford health insurance within their budget if they could no longer purchase a plan through the ACA marketplace.
The price spike is mainly due to the end of the year when enhanced tax breaks for ACA marketplace plans expire. Republicans in Congress have so far refused to extend the grants, while Democrats have shut down the government in a failed attempt to continue the loans.
Although increases will vary greatly depending on location, income and plan type, a September 30 KFF Analysis Individuals’ annual contributions are expected to escalate from about $350 to more than $1,800.
Open enrollment for ACA marketplace plans began in many states on November 1 and will last until December 15 for most Americans, giving Congress little time to broker a deal before plans to purchase a plan close for next year.
No progress in negotiations
The Senate is there the vote is expected to take place next week on the Democratic appropriations extension bill, although it seems unlikely that the bill would receive the 60 votes needed to advance in the Republican-controlled chamber.
Health, Education, Work and Pensions Committee conducted the hearing this week to explore short- and long-term options for lowering health care costs, but senators on that panel failed to reach a clear consensus.
KFF President and CEO Drew Altman said in a statement that “the survey highlights a number of problems that Marketplace enrollees will face if the increased tax credits are not extended in some form, and these problems will become a poster child for how Americans will struggle with health care costs in the medium term if Republicans and Democrats are unable to resolve their differences.”
The KFF survey showed that only 9% of marketplace enrollees were very confident that Republicans in Congress would address rising health insurance costs, with 24% saying they were somewhat confident, 25% saying they were not very confident, and 42% responding that they had no confidence in GOP lawmakers on this particular issue.
The blame falls on Trump
ACA enrollees would overwhelmingly blame President Donald Trump if their total health care costs, including premiums, co-pays and deductibles, increased by $1,000 next year, though Republicans and Democrats in Congress would bear almost equal blame, the study found.
37% would blame Trump, 33% would name GOP legislators and 29% would blame Democrats for rising costs.
These numbers vary greatly depending on a person’s political affiliation: 65% of Republicans say they would blame Democrats, 20% would blame Republicans in Congress and 14% would blame Trump.
Forty-four percent of people who identified as independents said they would blame Trump, 32% said they would blame Republicans in Congress, and 23% said they would blame Democrats.
Among Democrats, 49% would blame Trump, 46% would attribute it to Republicans in Congress, and the rest would blame members of their own party.
On November 7-15, KFF conducted a survey among 1,350 people. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the entire sample and plus or minus 6 percentage points for questions about political party membership.
