The new health care plan for 2026: Pay More
Prices have chipped away at everyone’s family’s budget all year — groceries, rent, utilities, you name it. But nothing prepared us for what’s hitting on Jan. 1, when our health insurance premiums in New Hampshire double overnight.
I’m a consultant, so my family buys insurance through the Affordable Care Act. When I logged in to enroll for 2026, the numbers were much higher — and they’re no accident. Congress allowed the ACA tax credits to expire, eliminating financial help that more than 21 million Americans rely on. Without these credits, families like mine who buy insurance on our own are being slammed with bigger premiums.
Experts warned this would happen. Voters across every party say they want these tax credits restored. Millions are now at risk of losing coverage. Analysts estimate one in four marketplace enrollees could go uninsured.
This isn’t a red-state or blue-state issue. Washington has spent the past year helping billionaires, slashing health care, threatening rural hospitals and forcing working families to pay more for less.
As 2026 begins, families are making impossible decisions about what to cut just to stay insured. Congress must stop this harmful agenda and restore the affordable health care Americans need and deserve.
Jayme Simões heads Louis Karno & Co., the communications agency he founded in 1999. Simões also serves with Protect Our Care NH to the fight for accessible, affordable health care. He lives in Concord with his wife Laura.