When Noah Hulsman, who owns a skate shop in Louisville, Kentucky, learned he no longer qualified for federal subsidies to help him pay for his “gold” Affordable Care Act health plan, the 37-year-old opted for skimpier coverage. But the deductible is about a quarter of his yearly income.
Loretta Forbes realized she would have to drop her plan after her monthly ACA marketplace premiums jumped tenfold in 2026. So the 56-year-old, who lives outside Nashville, Tennessee, started rationing her rheumatoid arthritis medications. Her husband, Jim, gave up on his fledgling handyman business and started looking for a job with insurance coverage.
And when Nicole Wipp learned the monthly premium for her family’s ACA plan would be more than their mortgage payment, she and her husband decided to drop their family plan and buy coverage only for their 15-year-old son.
After crunching the numbers, Wipp, 54, a self-employed lawyer in Aiken, South Carolina, said she and her family made the tough call.
“We decided that, ultimately, it would be better for us to gamble.”
Despite a contentious back-and-forth and the longest government shutdown in history last fall, the GOP-led Congress allowed enhanced ACA subsidies, which had helped millions of Americans cover all or part of their marketplace prem …