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Friday, Nov. 14, 2025

Will 2026 Obamacare premiums double for 20 million Americans?

Tom Kertscher / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch
no

The amount some pay for Affordable Care Act health insurance will double when enhanced subsidies expire, but there isn’t evidence the number is 20 million.

KFF, a health policy nonprofit, estimates monthly payments for Obamacare recipients will increase, on average, $1,016 – more than doubling, from $888 in 2025 to $1,904 in 2026.

That counts increases to premiums and lost subsidies.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, citing the KFF report, made the 20 million claim. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said Sanders was wrong.

KFF doesn’t say how many of the 24 million Obamacare enrollees will see premiums double.

But for 2 to 3 million people on the high end of income eligibility and set to lose all enhanced subsidies, premiums will double or triple. 

Enhanced subsidies, created in 2021, expire Dec. 31. Some Obamacare enrollees will receive lower enhanced subsidies or none. Standard subsidies remain.

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