Affordable Care Act (ACA)

Enhanced credits for health insurance purchased from the Affordable Care Act marketplace expire at the end of this year. If they aren’t renewed, premiums will skyrocket for many people in Kansas and nationwide.

The federal funding package to reopen the government included a one-year extension of certain 2018 Farm Bill programs. Several expired Sept. 30 or would have been null by the end of the year.

About 1 million Texans with ACA health plans are over the age of 45, and many of them will pay monthly premiums that are more than $1,000.

The Affordable Care Act marketplace for health insurance opened Saturday. With an enhanced tax credit set to expire at the end of the year, Kansans face dramatically increased premiums.

Enrollment in Affordable Care Act marketplace health insurance plans begins Nov. 1. But questions about whether Congress will extend tax credits that bring down the cost of plans for many Americans linger.

As Texas develops its application for federal Rural Health Transformation Program funding, rural hospital leaders say stabilizing their facilities should be a top priority. "Without it, all the planning in the world will not matter because there will be no hospital left to transform," one said.

Insurance companies have proposed the highest rate increases since 2018. Health care analysts blame Trump administration policies, which will raise prices and drive healthy people out of the marketplace.

Having never expanded Medicaid, Texas avoided most of the looming federal cuts other states will face. But the Affordable Care Act is a different story.

President Donald Trump's new budget package cuts funding for programs like Medicaid and SNAP through work requirements.

Thousands of Midwesterners obtained health insurance through the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion. A federal work requirement would force states to enforce a policy that could cause a loss of benefits caused by administrative errors and red tape.