Lapse of critical subsidies will increase costs for patients nationwide 

National Nurses United (NNU), the country’s largest nurses union, has sent letters to members of the U.S. Congress demanding they vote no on pending legislation that fails to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies expiring at the end of 2025, and instead support the House Discharge Petition that is a clean three-year extension of the subsidies.

Millions of families will face doubled or tripled monthly premium costs, and one survey found that one in four people covered through the ACA marketplace are likely to go without coverage if the subsidies are not extended. 

As the House of Representatives is preparing to vote on the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, nurses warn the bill does not extend the ACA subsidies but instead expands junk insurance plans that evade ACA coverage requirements. This bill is a far cry from the relief Americans need, and members of the Republican Party agree. Today, a group of four lawmakers joined 214 of their Democratic colleagues in cosponsoring the House Discharge Petition to force a vote on a clean three-year extension, meaning the measure now has the 218 votes needed to pass. 

National Nurses United strongly urges House leadership to bring the discharge petition to a vote immediately to extend the enhanced ACA subsidies before they expire and lawmakers to put our patients first by supporting the House Discharge Petition and rejecting the Republican alternatives that will exacerbate the health care crisis caused by H.R. 1 and decades of piecemeal health care policies.

Nurses also demand that Congress immediately reverse the worst of H.R.1, especially over $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and other critical public programs, before these devastating moves can go into effect next year. If these disastrous cuts are implemented, vulnerable hospitals will be forced to close their doors, patients will go without care, and tens of thousands of lives will be lost unnecessarily. 

NNU nurses remain steadfast advocates for Medicare for All as the only solution to the on-going national health care crisis. 

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.