{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murray.senate.gov/sen-murray-montana-leaders-montanans-who-rely-on-aca-tax-credits-lay-out-cost-of-republican-health-care-sabotage-in-red-states-why-republicans-must-come-to-the-table-to-prevent-costs-from-skyrock/", "Sen. Murray, Montana Leaders, Montanans Who Rely on ACA Tax Credits, Lay Out Cost of Republican Health Care Sabotage in Red States, Why Republicans Must Come to the Table to Prevent Costs from Skyrocketing", "2025-10-15", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "WA", "Patty Murray", "M001111", "www.murray.senate.gov", "murray", "https://www.murray.senate.gov/category/press-releases/", "scraper", "KFF: Most Republicans and MAGA Supporters Say Congress Should Extend the Enhanced ACA Tax Credits Set to Expire Next Year\n\nICYMI: Wall Street Journal \u2013 White House Senses Political Risk on Healthcare Despite Shutdown Bravado\n\nMurray takes case directly to red states as new signs indicate Republicans are feeling the heat over their refusal to take action to prevent people\u2019s costs from spiking\n\nMore than 67,000 Montanans rely on ACA tax credits; average annual premium increase is $1,092 if ACA tax credits expire\n\n***DOWNLOAD AUDIO HERE; video to come later***\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, held a virtual press conference on the 15th day of the Republican shutdown with Montana State Senator Cora Neumann, Montana Nurses Association CEO Vicky Byrd, and Montanans who rely on Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits to afford health care.\n\nRight now, Democrats are fighting to save the ACA tax credits, which expire at the end of the year. Without them, 22 million Americans\u2014mostly in red states\u2014will see their health care costs skyrocket. Premiums will more than double, on average, for Americans who buy health care through the ACA exchanges, and these higher costs will push 4.2 million people off their health coverage over the next decade. In Montana, over 67,000 people rely on the ACA tax credits to afford their health insurance. Montanans with the tax credits pay an average monthly premium of $145, compared to $635 without the credit. A married couple in Helena, Montana could see their premiums rise by nearly $20,000 annually next year.\n\nMore than 3 in 4 people who get their health care through the ACA marketplaces\u201418.7 million out of 24.3 million\u2014live in states President Trump won in 2024. The vast majority of Americans want Congress to renew the ACA tax credits, according to recent polling from KFF\u2014including six in ten Republicans and a majority of Republicans who identify as MAGA. At the press conference, Senator Murray made her case directly to Montanans, explaining how inaction by their Republican members of Congress will force health care premiums to explode next year. She implored Republican leaders to come to the table as new signs indicate that Republicans are feeling that heat on their deeply unpopular position. In recent days, reporting has indicated that the White House is privately fretting about the issue, and President Trump signaled openness to cutting a deal. Meanwhile, some House Republicans have called out Republican leadership for causing the shutdown and failing to have a solution or plan to prevent people\u2019s premiums from exploding.\n\n\u201cRight now, in many states, families are window shopping for health insurance online, and they\u2019re logging in and seeing astronomical price hikes for the upcoming year, with the ACA tax credits disappearing. Right now, more than 67,000 people in Montana rely on the ACA tax credits to help them afford their health coverage. That is tens of thousands of people who will see their health care costs skyrocket if Republicans let these tax credits expire. Many families will see their costs for next year double, triple, or even quadruple. According to the Montana Nurses Association, a married couple in Helena could see premiums rise by nearly $20,000 a year. Do Republicans seriously think people can afford that? The reality is, they can\u2019t,\u201d said Senator Murray. \u201cIf the tax credits expire, thousands of people in Montana will be forced off their health coverage because they won\u2019t be able to afford it anymore. We are talking about families with kids. We are talking about seniors, retirees who aren\u2019t old enough for Medicare but desperately need health coverage. We are talking about countless farmers and ranchers, small business owners, and freelancers. If Republicans continue refusing to act, in a few weeks, families across Montana are going to come face to face with premiums they cannot afford.\u201d\n\nSenator Murray played a critical role in passing the enhanced premium tax credits in the American Rescue Plan in 2021 and extending them in the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, and she has been fighting for months to make sure these important health care tax credits don\u2019t expire, including cosponsoring multiple pieces of legislation\u2014the Health Care Affordability Act and theProtecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act\u2014that would make them permanent.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re talking about real lives that could be lost if we don\u2019t extend these subsidies and protect our system\u2026 A household with $20,000 a year of increased costs in health care, that will put our health care system into a death spiral. I know first-hand from my work in health care, that when people lose coverage, they stop seeking care. When they stop seeking care, they go to the ER for care. When they go to the ER, the hospital, it\u2019s this vicious cycle, the hospital eats the costs. The hospital can\u2019t stay open because they have to\u2026 absorb those costs. The hospital shuts down, and the entire community suffers, the economy and the health,\u201d said Montana State Senator Cora Neumann. \u201cIt really is our neighbors and our friends and our family. Over 50% of Montana small businesses rely on Marketplace and Medicaid for coverage for their employees, so these small businesses could also collapse without this coverage\u2026 I want to ask our federal delegation, who are you working for?\u2026 Montanans overwhelmingly, across the state, want to extend these subsidies. And especially Senator Daines and Senator Sheehy, they have the power to call on their fellow Senators to sit down and have a conversation, and they are just turning the other way. So, I\u2019m just I\u2019m sickened by this, because I know what this means to my constituents, how much they\u2019re already struggling to cover their health care costs. And I\u2019m asking our delegation to answer to your constituents, not to your Republican bosses in Washington, because your bosses are the people of Montana.\u201d\n\n\u201cRight now, we\u2019re fighting to protect the ACA premium tax credits. This serves as a lifeline for our rural communities, especially our farmers, our ranchers, our small businesses owners, but also their families. These subsidies just don\u2019t help people afford coverage, they keep our hospitals open. When a farmer has insurance and comes in for care, this brings critical revenue that allows rural hospitals to stay afloat, pay the nurses, the providers, all the staff who care for our communities every day. The stakes couldn\u2019t be higher\u2026 The vast majority of our rural families, many living miles from the nearest clinic or emergency room, depend on this support to stay insured and stay healthy. If Congress doesn\u2019t act, these consequences will be devastating for Montanans. As you heard, upwards of 60,000 or more of them rely on these credits,\u201d said Vicky Byrd, CEO of the Montana Nurses Association. \u201cWhen health care disappears, so does the stability of our rural life. That\u2019s just a bridge too far. These are not just numbers. These are real people, hardworking Montanans who don\u2019t have lobbyists in Washington, but count on all of us to fight for all of them. The human cost of delayed care or denied care is real. Without subsidies, the ER becomes the only option\u2014patients arrive sicker, more fragile and harder to save, often with conditions that could have been prevented or treated earlier\u2026 We must put patients above profits and fight for dignity, opportunity and respect. If these credits expire, dozens of Montana rural hospitals and clinics will feel this inner strain. We must extend them or make them permanent, because in Montana and in rural America, these communities look out for each other.\u201d\n\n\u201cI was not expecting this going into retirement, you know, funding that much. I knew Trump might make some changes. I knew the GOP might make some changes, but I didn\u2019t think they would do anything this dumb. I\u2019m a middle-class person. I\u2019m a former small business owner, retired. The GOP is supposed to be representing people like me, but they\u2019re throwing me under the bus, and they\u2019re doing it for a really dumb reason. I think if they really sat down and talked to other people, they would realize that this is a big mistake not extending these enhanced premium tax credits,\u201d said Bob Gregoire, a Montanan from Bozeman who relies on ACA tax credits to afford health care.\n\nSenator Murray\u2019s remarks, as delivered on today\u2019s press call, are below:\n\n\u201cThank you all for joining me. I\u2019m so glad we could have this discussion today.\n\n\u201cBecause President Trump and Republican lawmakers have been desperate to ignore the fact that health care premiums are about to skyrocket for millions of Americans, all because of their own refusal to act.\n\n\u201cAcross the country, premiums are going to more than double for millions of families, unless Congress saves the tax credits that help people afford insurance on the ACA exchanges.\n\n\u201cIn Montana, that means the overwhelming majority of people who buy health insurance through the ACA marketplace are about to see a huge spike in their health care costs.\n\n\u201cBut Republicans don\u2019t want to talk about it. And they have refused to do anything about it. In fact, Republicans have chosen to shut down the government rather than work with Democrats on a solution to stop this from happening.\n\n\u201cSo, here\u2019s my feeling on this: if Republicans don\u2019t want to level with their own constituents about what is at stake, I am happy to do it. Because Republicans may well be able to shut down the government, but they cannot shut down the debate, and they cannot shut out the voices of families who are facing the harsh reality of their inaction.\n\n\u201cNow, when Republican leaders here in D.C. have been asked about addressing this urgent problem, the only word they seem to know is \u2018later.\u2019 But there is no \u2018later.\u2019 Open enrollment starts on November 1st\u2014that\u2019s less than a month away!\n\n\u201cRight now, in many states, families are window shopping for health insurance online, and they\u2019re logging in and seeing astronomical price hikes for the upcoming year, with the ACA tax credits disappearing.\n\n\u201cRight now, more than 67,000 people in Montana rely on the ACA tax credits to help them afford their health care coverage. That is tens of thousands of people who will see their health care costs skyrocket if Republicans let these tax credits expire.\n\n\u201cMany families will see their costs for next year double, triple, or even quadruple. According to the Montana Nurses Association, a married couple in Helena could see premiums rise by nearly $20,000 a year.\n\n\u201cDo Republicans seriously think people can afford that? The reality is, they can\u2019t.\n\n\u201cIf the tax credits expire, thousands of people in Montana will be forced off their health coverage because they won\u2019t be able to afford it anymore.\n\n\u201cWe are talking about families with kids. We are talking about seniors, retirees who aren\u2019t old enough for Medicare but desperately need health coverage. We are talking about countless farmers and ranchers, small business owners, and freelancers.\n\n\u201cIf Republicans continue refusing to act, in a few weeks, families across Montana are going to come face to face with premiums they cannot afford.\n\n\u201cPeople are going to go online to buy health coverage, take a look at the sky-high prices on the marketplace\u2014price hikes Republicans refused to stop\u2014and say, \u2018What am I going to do?\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd they are going to ask, \u2018Why aren\u2019t the people who represent me talking about this?\u2019 \u2018Why did they refuse to lift a finger to stop this?\u2019\n\n\u201cSo that\u2019s my warning to my Republican colleagues who are trying to dodge even sitting down to talk about health care right now. This issue is not going to magically disappear. It is only going to become more and more real for the people you represent.\n\n\u201cDemocrats are fighting to save these tax credits and prevent your health care costs from exploding next year. Democrats are pushing to reopen the government. But we need Republicans to finally come to the table and negotiate to hammer out a solution.\n\n\u201cAnd Montana? Your lawmakers need to hear from you.\n\n\u201cSo I\u2019m going to keep lifting up the voices Republicans are struggling to hear with their heads in the sand. I\u2019m going to keep making sure the problem is plain as day.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m going to keep letting my Republican colleagues know: I am at the table and more than ready to get working on a solution.\n\n\u201cThe clock is ticking. Open enrollment is weeks away. And it\u2019s past time Republicans sit down and start working with us.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.murray.senate.gov/sen-murray-montana-leaders-montanans-who-rely-on-aca-tax-credits-lay-out-cost-of-republican-health-care-sabotage-in-red-states-why-republicans-must-come-to-the-table-to-prevent-costs-from-skyrock/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6576191410422325, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}