More than three-quarters of the people who rely on ACA tax credits for health insurance live in red states
Murray takes case directly to Idahoans and Montanans as new signs indicate Republicans are feeling the heat over their refusal to take action to prevent people’s costs from spiking
Murray: “If Republicans don’t want to level with their own constituents about what is at stake, I am happy to do it. Because Republicans may well be able to shut down the government, but they cannot shut down the debate, and they cannot shut out the voices of families who are facing the harsh reality of their inaction.”
Washington, D.C. – As open enrollment on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace began in Idaho this week—with open enrollment beginning in the rest of the country on November 1—Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, has been warning how Republicans’ refusal to save the ACA enhanced premium tax credits will cause premiums to explode, particularly in red states. She warned that the 10 states facing the largest hikes are red states and has now taken her case directly to Idahoans and Montanans in separate press calls.
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WATCH: Murray Lays Out Which States Will See Highest Premium Increases Due to Republican Inaction
[WATCH: Morning Joe panel discusses which states will be most hurt by Republican inaction.]
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Idahoans Face Sticker Shock as Open Enrollment Began on Wednesday
TV & RADIO
KXLY (Northern Idaho & Spokane, WA)
ANCHOR: “In a press conference today, Washington state Senator Patty Murray argued ensuring these tax credits are extended indefinitely is the first step to make rising health insurance premiums attainable for Americans. Americans like Bob McMichael, a retired schoolteacher from a rural part of Idaho. He and his wife are senior citizens living on a fixed income. They don’t qualify for Medicaid, but they’ve been able to find an affordable health insurance plan using the Affordable Care Act exchange system. But last week, Bob received a letter about his insurance plan, which is set to increase by more than 250 dollars a month. Bob says taking these tax credits on and off the bargaining table is making it difficult to plan for the future. Bob McMichael relies on ACA tax credits. ‘If they reinstate the ACA credits or if they are still on the table for us in 2026, it’s going to be hard. But if they don’t reinstate then, then we simply won’t be able to afford any health care at all.’ Today, a Republican stopgap funding bill failed to pass in the Senate once again. The vote was 54 to 45. The government shutdown is inching closer and closer to the open enrollment period, where people like bob can compare plans and make changes to their health coverage. Idaho’s open enrollment is just days away on October 15th. In Washington, the date is November 1st.” [10/9/25]
KBOI (Boise, ID)
ANCHOR: “If those credits expire, health insurance premiums will skyrocket in 2026. A senator from Washington, Patty Murray, is holding a conference with Idahoans about them. ‘And if those credits expire, a 55 year old earning about $63,000 a year in Idaho will see their annual premiums increase nearly $4,000. No one can afford that.’ That’s Idaho Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow. She urges Congress to make the credits permanent, saying it would cost a fraction of the billions given in tax cuts.” [10/10/25]
Idaho Capital Sun: Democratic Idaho legislator calls on Congress to extend health insurance tax credits
With open enrollment on Idaho’s health insurance exchange starting next week, Idaho State Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow called on Congress to extend health insurance tax credits and end the shutdown of the U.S. government.
Wintrow, D-Boise, participated in an online press conference Thursday with U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, as the partial shutdown of the federal government was in its ninth day.
“I am overwhelmed with calls from people all over the state who are frustrated and afraid about the things that are happening in their health care,” Wintrow said.
Open enrollment on the Your Health Idaho health insurance exchange, where Idahoans can apply for a tax credit and enroll in a health insurance plan for next year, opens Oct. 15 and runs through Dec. 15.
Murray warned that unless Congress extends the tax credits originally passed in 2021, thousands of Idahoans on the state’s health exchange will see “a huge spike in their health care costs.” Without those credits, 25,000 Idahoans are likely to cancel their insurance policies — as average premiums are expected to double, Pat Kelly, executive director of Your Health Idaho, previously told the Idaho Capital Sun.
“But Republicans don’t want to talk about it. And they have refused to do anything about it. In fact, Republicans have chosen to shut down the government rather than work with Democrats on a solution to stop this from happening. So here’s my feeling on this: if Republicans don’t want to level with their own constituents about what is at stake, I am happy to do it,” Murray said. [10/9/25]
Idaho Statesman: ‘People are going to die’: Idahoans fear spike in insurance costs
At 59, Susan Wood, a longtime Boise, Idaho, resident, was too young to qualify for Medicare when she retired in July. So she signed up for a marketplace plan under the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare.
[…]
With the help of federal subsidies, which get paid out to insurance companies, she has to cover only $72 of her monthly premium. Wood said she’d be on the hook for her plan’s full $700 monthly premium without the subsidies. Those payments would surpass what she spends on her mortgage or on food. [10/7/25]
NBC News: Idaho kicks off Affordable Care Act open enrollment as premiums are set to rise nationwide:
Many Idahoans will have to decide whether they’ll be able to afford coverage once the enhanced subsidies that kept premiums lower for many middle-class families expire at the end of the year.
Bob McMichael, 63, and his wife, Leslie, 62, already know they won’t.
Both are retired and make about $42,000 a year. They currently pay $51 a month for their ACA plan. Late last month, they got a notice that their monthly premium would increase to $2,232 next year without the subsidies.
“We’re facing a stratospheric increase in health care and probably don’t have any option to stay on health care as of January 2026,” McMichael said. [10/15/25]
Spokesman-Review: Murray puts spotlight on Idaho as shutdown fight over health care drags on
With the government shutdown in its ninth day and no sign of serious negotiations between the parties to end it, Democrats are counting on sticker shock putting pressure on Republicans when Americans start seeing rising health insurance costs during this fall’s open enrollment period.
That period beings Oct. 15 in Idaho, earlier than every other state, a fact Sen. Patty Murray of Washington sought to highlight in a virtual news conference on Thursday with Idaho State Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, a fellow Democrat.
“If Republican leaders don’t want to talk with Democrats about opening the government and stopping premiums from doubling, well, we’re going to talk to the American people about what’s at stake,” Murray said. “We will lift up the voices of families who are worried their premiums will double.”
Wintrow, speaking from the Idaho State Capitol, pointed blame at the Gem State’s all-GOP congressional delegation: Reps. Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson and Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch. Simpson leads a subcommittee responsible for government funding, and Crapo chairs the Senate Finance Committee, but none of the four men have publicly engaged in talks to end the impasse.
“I am overwhelmed with calls from people all over the state who are frustrated and afraid about the things that are happening in their health care,” she said. “Their stories are remarkably similar. They’re worried, they’re frustrated and they’re asking, ‘Why aren’t the people we send to Washington helping us?’ ”
[…]
“I think Republicans think that this is just going to go away,” [Murray] said. “But I have to tell you, people are getting those letters in the mail — in Idaho starting in just a few days, in Washington state in a few weeks, every state across the country.” [10/9/25]
NOTUS: A Democratic Senator Is Taking Shutdown Health Care Messaging to Deep-Red Idaho
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, the upper chamber’s top Democratic appropriator, will conduct a press call Thursday with local media in neighboring Idaho, according to her office. Murray, alongside Idaho state Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow and two Idaho retirees, is expected to argue that congressional Republicans are responsible for a potential rise in Idaho health care premiums. […] In a floor speech Tuesday, Murray said the 10 states where insurance premiums would spike the most if the subsidies expire were all ones that went for Trump in 2024 and have Republican senators. “If you’re gonna not talk with us, then I beg my colleagues: At least talk to your constituents. See what this health care crisis looks for them,” Murray said on the Senate floor. [10/8/25]
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Murray Warns of Skyrocketing Premiums in Montana
TV & RADIO
NonStop Local (Billings, Butte-Bozeman, Great Falls, Helena, Missoula, MT) (KULR, KWYB, KFBB, KHBB, KTMF)
ANCHOR: “Bradley Warren shows us from The Pulse studios: the Democrats feel like they are fighting for the American people, and protecting our healthcare.”
CORRESPONDENT: “Well, today, Senator Murray was joined by State Senator Cora Neumann to stress the importance of the ACA subsidies. Open enrollment for Affordable Care Act plans started today in Idaho and gave us sort of a glimpse as to what the future of health care in the country could look like without the tax credits. Now, Senator Patty Murray says the Democrats are pushing for these because the average out of pocket premium is expected just in the state of Idaho to rise by $1,200 a year. And that’s a 75% increase, according to the state health officials that we reached out today. Senator Neumann also tells us without the subsidies, the impact on her rural district in the state of Montana, which stretches from Bozeman all the way down to West Yellowstone, could be significant.”
SENATOR CORA NEUMANN: “I think we’re actually over 70,000 Montanans that have enrolled in the ACA marketplace in 2025. In 2020, it was only 42,000. So, if that gives you a sense of how many people have taken advantage of this and how high the rates are across the state, just as an example of how, how critical and crucial it has come to, has become within our health care system.”
CORRESPONDENT: “So she said, there are some people who could make the decision to forgo insurance because of the price of it, which could overwhelm our rural health care system. And of course, the emergency rooms, because that’s where people would be going if they don’t have insurance. I spoke to the senior senator, the Democratic Senator from the state of Washington who hosted this press conference today with leaders from the state of Montana, Patty Murray. And she says that she wants to see these health care subsidies get across the finish line. I asked her about remarks made from the Montana Republican delegation that has spoken with me, saying that Democrats need to reopen the government and negotiate later. She said that’s not going to work for her. “We repeatedly asked them to extend these tax credits, for the ACA, and they refused to do so. This is not a new request. This is a legislative request and it needs to be done now.” [10/15/25]
KGEZ (Missoula, MT)
HOST: “Washington state Senator Patty Murray is doing a virtual news conference tomorrow afternoon with Bozeman State Senter Cora Neumann and Montana Nurses Association CEO Vicki Byrd. Now, they’re going to be talking about the impending rise in health care costs for Montanans. Senator Murray is the Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee. The main point of contention of this current government shutdown, now on its sixteenth day, is the loss of the Affordable Care Act tax credits which underwrite a majority of health care premiums for those Montanans. Senator Murray gives us this as an example: Montanans pay an average monthly premium of a hundred and forty-five dollars with tax credits; without them, it rises to six hundred thirty-five dollars. She says a married couple in Helena could see their premiums rise by nearly twenty thousand dollars annually. Senator Murray reminds us that over sixty seven thousand Montanans rely on the Affordable Care Act credits in order to afford their health care insurance. Democrats in Congress say the government shutdown would end immediately if this issue was resolved.” [10/15/25]
Daily Montanan: Washington senator hosts forum with Montanans on health subsidies, shutdown
Montanans can’t afford the exploding costs of health insurance coming their way if Republicans in the U.S. Senate won’t work with Democrats to protect Affordable Care Act tax credits — that was the message Wednesday from a video call hosted by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray.
Murray said she held the call because families in red states such as Montana are being affected, Republicans in the U.S. Senate are dodging the issue, and Republican lawmakers need to negotiate.
[…]
[State Senator Cora Neumann] said Montana’s own Republican state auditor James Brown signed onto a letter with other auditors across the country calling on Congress to continue the enhanced tax credits that started during the pandemic.
“Auditors know intimately how dangerous these cuts are,” Neumann said.
But Neumann said the federal delegation is not listening to Montanans.
She also said the delegation “has phenomenal health care coverage,” and their intransigence on the matter for others confused her.
“For them to sit pretty in Washington and accept some of the best health care coverage in the country while Montanans lose their coverage just reminds me of how out of touch they are with Montana,” Neumann said.[10/15/25]
Billings Gazette: Medicare open enrollment kicks off in Montana — and plans are more expensive than ever
[…]
Most Montanans on the ACA exchange receive monthly subsidies that make premiums more affordable. A pandemic-era federal policy expanded those subsidies, giving many consumers a financial buffer during an economically uncertain time.
Those ACA enhanced premium tax credits will lapse at the end of the year without congressional action, and are at the center of the federal government shutdown fight. The impasse is largely due to Democrats’ insistence on renewing the subsidies and the Republicans’ refusal to do so as a condition of reopening.
The average monthly subsidy for a Montana resident is currently $545. Jacobs said he works with some families who currently pay $350 a month with the ACA tax credit but could pay around $2,200 a month without it.
[…]
Democrats counter that people are feeling financial strain and could choose to go without insurance rather than pay a high price, which will ultimately cost the system more down the line when they seek emergency room care.
“We are talking about families with kids, we’re talking about seniors, retirees who aren’t old enough for Medicare but desperately need healthcare coverage, countless farmers, ranchers, small business owners and freelancers,” said U.S. Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, in a press call earlier this week.
Murray, one of the lone Senate Democrats in the otherwise deep red geographic pocket, hosted a press conference on Wednesday with a handful of Montanans. Murray claimed she’s heard from Montana residents with concerns about the potential surge in health costs.
Montana Sen. Cora Neumann, D-Bozeman, also participated in the event. She expressed concern that Montana’s GOP lawmakers in D.C. were “out of touch” with the impact that the price increases could have on the average family.
With less than three weeks until the marketplace opens for business and no clear path forward in sight, many people are left to wonder what this all means for them. [10/17/25]
NonStop Local, Montana Right Now: Senator Murray and Montana leaders urge action to save healthcare tax credits
This is a situation where Congress needs to act now with legislation to extend the tax credits,” Murray said. […] “I will go back to this summer when Republicans passed their ‘Big Beautiful Bill.’ One of the tax extenders in that was for billionaires which they moved heaven and earth to do within a few short weeks. We repeatedly asked them to extend these tax credits for the ACA and they refused to do so. This is not a new request. This is a legislative request. And it needs to be done now. [10/16/25]
SEMAFOR: Top Senate Democrat takes health care fight to red states
As the government shutdown enters its second week, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is taking her party’s fight for enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies to the neighboring red state of Idaho. “If the Republican lawmakers … are not going to level with their constituents about what is at stake in this fight, I will,” Murray, who is planning a virtual press conference Thursday with Idaho Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow and Idahoans who use the subsidies, told Semafor. She added that an estimated 100,000 Idahoans will see premiums go up by an average of almost $1,000 a year when the state’s open enrollment period — the earliest in the country — begins next week. [10/8/25]
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