{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/watch-padilla-california-health-care-leaders-blast-republicans-refusal-to-prevent-californians-health-care-costs-from-soaring/", "WATCH: Padilla, California Health Care Leaders Blast Republicans\u2019 Refusal to Prevent Californians\u2019 Health Care Costs From Soaring", "2025-12-11", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "CA", "Alex Padilla", "P000145", "www.padilla.senate.gov", "padilla", "https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 After Senate Republicans voted against Democrats\u2019 plan to prevent millions of Americans\u2019 health care costs from skyrocketing, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) hosted a virtual press conference to sound the alarm on the looming Republican health care crisis. Padilla was joined by California and national health care leaders to highlight the severe consequences of Republicans\u2019 refusal to pass Democrats\u2019 proposal of a three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits before they expire at the end of the year, jeopardizing care for over 1.7 million Californians who rely on these essential subsidies.\n\nAs the Trump Administration\u2019s largest reduction to Medicaid in history and disastrous tariff wars are already raising costs for working families, Republicans\u2019 failure to extend the ACA tax credits will nearly double Californians\u2019 health care premiums on average, pricing 400,000 residents out of their insurance coverage completely next year. Across the country, nearly 22 million Americans rely on these tax credits, and 4 million Americans could lose their health care altogether from their expiration.\n\nJessica Altman, Executive Director of Covered California; Jessica Wilson (Cruz), CEO of National Alliance on Mental Illness; Sandy Reding, a Registered Nurse, President of the California Nurses Association, and Vice President of National Nurses United; and Dr. Rachel Ruiz, Pediatric Gastroenterologist at Santa Clara Medical Center and Valley Physicians Group Chair joined Padilla in warning about the rising costs of Americans\u2019 health care.\n\n\u201cToday, Republicans voted to rip health insurance away from millions of Americans. Three weeks from now, lifesaving Affordable Care Act tax credits will expire, leading to skyrocketing health care costs for over 1.7 million Californians, all because Republicans refused to get serious about health care,\u201d said Senator Padilla. \u201cDemocrats\u2019 position hasn\u2019t changed: we\u2019re fighting to prevent premiums from doubling or even tripling starting in January. But with costs rising on everything from groceries and housing to energy bills and health care, Republicans are forcing Americans to make the impossible decision between coming up short on rent and groceries or skipping out on health care for the year.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Enhanced Premium Tax Credits have made health care coverage attainable for over 24 million Americans, and enrollment has doubled nationally since 2021, so we know the best way to keep health care affordable is to extend these tax credits,\u201d said Covered California Executive Director Jessica Altman. \u201cIn California, premiums would nearly double \u2014 on average \u2014 if Congress does not act. Over 1.7 million Californians need these credits extended by Congress so they can afford health care coverage in 2026, as they run their small businesses, work in the gig economy, or have just retired.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen a family is in crisis, they shouldn\u2019t have to worry about how it will be paid for. Without these tax credits, we\u2019re going to see a ripple effect on families, individuals, and the streets of California. With an ongoing mental health crisis in this country, we cannot let millions of people lose coverage for lifesaving mental health treatment, counseling, and recovery supports,\u201d said Jessica Wilson (Cruz), CEO of NAMI California.\n\n\u201cNurses are extremely concerned that Congress failed to take action to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies. Twenty million of our patients across the country stand to lose their health care coverage, including 400,000 Californians who will be priced out of their insurance plans if these subsidies are not extended. Congress also needs to immediately reverse the worst of H.R. 1, especially the over $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid. Despite the fact that the hospital where I work is in a congressional district that has 67 percent Medicaid recipients, our Republican member of Congress still voted to cut Medicaid in favor of giving tax breaks for the super rich. Nurses know that the only real fix for our broken healthcare system, more broken now than ever, is to pass Medicare for All and ensure all our patients get the healthcare they need when they need it,\u201d said Sandy Reding, RN, President of the California Nurses Association, Vice President of National Nurses United.\n\n\u201cWhen premiums rise, many patients will be forced to drop their coverage and delay care. They won\u2019t, however, drop their chronic conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure. I don\u2019t see this as a political issue,\u201d said Dr. Rachel Ruiz, Pediatric Gastroenterologist at Santa Clara Medical Center and Valley Physicians Group Chair. \u201cFrom my perspective \u2014 in the exam room and at my patient\u2019s bedside \u2014 this is about the stark choice between prevention and catastrophe. Our patients are not a line item on a budget; they are the essential workers, parents, and grandparents who make our community run. The ACA tax credits are preventive medicine for our community. They are a stabilizing force that allows tens of thousands in our county and hundreds of thousands throughout the state to stay connected to their doctors and medications and to remain healthy, without the fear of one illness or one hospitalization bankrupting them. Despite today\u2019s outcome, my colleagues and I will remain steadfast. But without these credits, practicing medicine will feel like working in quicksand and we will be forced to make impossible choices with limited resources.\u201d\n\nAfter Republicans shut down the government for 43 days rather than address Americans\u2019 rising cost of living and health care, Padilla slammed Republicans\u2019 unserious, last-minute proposal that fails to extend the subsidies and increases premiums and deductibles for tens of millions of Americans while promoting junk plans to families across the nation.\n\nSenator Padilla consistently slammed President Trump and Senate Republicans for rejecting Democrats\u2019 bill to avert a government shutdown and protect health care coverage for millions of Americans. Yesterday, he called on Republicans to pass Senate Democrats\u2019 proposal to extend the ACA tax credits for three years before they expire next month. In September, Senator Padilla joined California health care leaders in Los Angeles to call on Congressional Republicans to work with Democrats to protect health care coverage for nearly 2 million California residents and avoid a Republican-caused government shutdown. In July, Padilla blasted Senate Republicans\u2019 passage of their tax bill that will kick 15 million Americans off their health care, shutter rural hospitals across the country, gut critical programs, and explode the debt by over $3.5 trillion.\n\nVideo of the full virtual press conference is available for download here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "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.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/watch-padilla-california-health-care-leaders-blast-republicans-refusal-to-prevent-californians-health-care-costs-from-soaring/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9890738874673843, "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"}