The number of people enrolling in Wisconsin’s Affordable Care Act marketplace is set to drop by in 2026 as marketplace premiums skyrocket.
A report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that the number of Wisconsinites enrolling in the ACA marketplace for coverage in 2026 declined steeply, with only 290,000 enrollees, compared to 307,000 in the previous year.
The decline in enrollees comes as a result of skyrocketing premiums, which financial organisations such as Thomson Reuters have said could more than double due to the expiration of tax credits that occurred at the end of 2025.
The increasing cost of premiums is at least in part due to the expiration of tax credits and subsidies that kept costs artificially low, something critics of the ACA have long warned is unsustainable.
Cynthia Cox, the senior vice president at KFF, a health research group, said that individuals not paying their premiums could be another bellwether sign alongside increasing premiums. (RELATED: Derrick Van Orden Breaks Ranks on ACA Subsidies to Protect Healthcare Access for Wisconsin)
“What we are waiting for to really understand the true impact of the enhanced premium tax credits expiring is how many people actually pay their premium,” Cox said. “Because if they don’t make a premium payment, then they lose their coverage.”
Republican politicians and advocacy groups have long contended that the Affordable Care Act is largely propped up by government subsidies, and have advocated for a longer-term fix to the healthcare system that would be less costly to taxpayers. (RELATED: Traffic Deaths Fall as Immigration Enforcement Intensifies)
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden administration further subsidised the ACA to defray healthcare costs. An analysis by the Economic Policy Innovation Center found that extending the subsidies would have cost an additional $410 billion over the next decade. The organisation also found that despite subsidies, the cost of ACA marketplace plans has continued to creep up.
