Pappas Leads Call for Trump Administration to Extend ACA Open Enrollment Period

Today Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) led 61 members in calling on the Trump administration and Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy to extend the 2026 open enrollment period through May 1, 2026. Extending the enrollment period would provide individuals more time to assess Marketplace prices and make an informed decision about health insurance coverage as Pappas continues to fight to extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits in Congress. Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander (NH–02) is a signer of the letter.

“Despite the sustained efforts of congressional Democrats to extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits prior to open enrollment starting, Congress has ultimately failed to do so. As a result, open enrollment has begun with sticker shock as enrollees are confronted with eye-popping premium increases,” wrote the lawmakers. “While we remain optimistic that Republicans will join Democrats to lower costs for consumers, in the meantime, we urge you to extend the 2026 open enrollment period through May 1, 2026.”

Stressing the importance of Congress extending ACA enhanced premium tax credits, the members wrote, “The enhanced premium tax credits have helped make health care more affordable and have driven record-breaking enrollment gains in the marketplace. Without an extension, the 22 million Americans who rely on the tax credits to afford coverage will see their costs rise by $1,000 on average—but many are seeing even higher increases. Individuals have already begun to see significant premium hikes in certain marketplaces, where some are learning that their costs will double or even triple.  As a result, younger, healthier, and lower-income people will likely drop coverage entirely due to unaffordable premiums, harming the risk pool and driving costs even higher.”

“Our constituents are now confronted with the difficult decision of whether they will be able to afford their health insurance…” wrote the lawmakers. Highlighting how the expiration of the ACA’s premium tax credits will make this year’s open enrollment season more challenging for families, they continued, “If and when Republicans agree to negotiate, an extended open enrollment period will allow individuals and families, who otherwise would not have been able to afford it, to acquire coverage. You have the authority to give people the time they need to make informed decisions about their coverage during this period of uncertainty.”

Read the full letter here and below. 

Dear Secretary Kennedy,

Despite the sustained efforts of congressional Democrats to extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits prior to open enrollment starting, Congress has ultimately failed to do so. As a result, open enrollment has begun with sticker shock as enrollees are confronted with eye-popping premium increases. While we remain optimistic that Republicans will join Democrats to lower costs for consumers, in the meantime, we urge you to extend the 2026 open enrollment period through May 1, 2026. 

The enhanced premium tax credits have helped make health care more affordable and have driven record-breaking enrollment gains in the marketplace.  Without an extension, the 22 million Americans who rely on the tax credits to afford coverage are seeing their costs rise by $1,000 on average—but many are seeing even higher increases.  Individuals have begun to see significant premium hikes across marketplaces, where some are learning that their costs will double or even triple.  As a result, younger, healthier, and lower-income people will likely drop coverage entirely due to unaffordable premiums, harming the risk pool and driving costs even higher. 

Our constituents are now confronted with the difficult decision of whether they will be able to afford their health insurance. While we continue to fight to keep health care affordable, we must provide Americans with additional time and flexibility to account for confusion caused by Republican inaction. Because almost 80% of all premium tax credits went to enrollees in states that President Trump won in 2024, we are hopeful that a deal to extend the premium tax credits will be reached before the end of the year.  If and when Republicans agree to negotiate, an extended open enrollment period will allow individuals and families, who otherwise would not have been able to afford it, to acquire coverage. You have the authority to give people the time they need to make informed decisions about their coverage during this period of uncertainty.

Failure to extend the enhanced ACA premium tax credits is raising premiums across the board for all enrollees, which will increase the number of uninsured individuals, and put additional strain on an already overburdened emergency care system as people are forced to forgo preventative care. Americans across the country cannot afford another blow to the health care system already reeling from cuts included in the “Big Ugly Bill.”    

While we continue to negotiate, we urge you to take this commonsense action to make things easier on the American people by extending open enrollment through May 1, 2026, and ask that you take all necessary steps to promote enrollment and protect coverage for eligible individuals and their families. Allowing individuals more time to make decisions about their 2026 coverage is an extremely simple step that we strongly urge you to take to prevent health insurance coverage from becoming even further out of reach for our constituents.

Sincerely,

Background:

Leadership from Lamprey Health Care spoke about the burden of these increased costs with Pappas last month during a roundtable, where they shared that they have been notified by their health insurance provider that their annual premium is expected to increase by 40% next year. Pappas also visited a New Hampshire manufacturer expected to see a 38% increase in its health insurance costs next year as a result of political inaction in Congress. 

Pappas supports legislation that would prevent extreme increases in health care premiums next year by extending the enhanced premium tax credits that keep health insurance affordable for Granite Staters and small businesses. Pappas joined a letter to Speaker Johnson highlighting the major impacts that small businesses will face if the enhanced premium tax credits expire, and urging the Speaker to end the shutdown by passing legislation to extend the enhanced premium tax credits immediately.