‘Stop playing games with our lives’: Arizonans urge lawmakers to protect ACA subsidies

Nearly 400,000 qualified Arizonans get help each month for health insurance through premium tax credits from the federal government as part of the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, which is private health insurance that includes federally-funded subsidies.

Enhanced ACA subsidies, which began during the pandemic, are set to expire at the end of this year, potentially causing massive rate increases for 2026.

The premium tax credits’ federal funding doesn’t expire until December, but open enrollment for ACA plans begins on Nov. 1. 

Want Arizona news in your inbox each morning? Sign up for our free newsletter.

A dispute between Republicans and Democrats over the expansion of the tax credits is partly the cause that sent the government into shutdown several weeks ago.

The enhanced premium tax credits—first enacted under the Biden-era American Rescue Plan and extended through 2025 by the Inflation Reduction Act—lowers the cost of coverage for the millions of Americans who receive financial help with marketplace plans, making coverage more affordable for millions of low-and middle-income constituents.

The enhanced tax credits that began in 2021 were responsible for a huge surge in ACA insurance plan enrollment. 

Steve Gomez’s family is one of the over 400,000 Arizonans who benefit from ACA tax credits. 

Since 2020, Gomez, his wife, and their three children who live in Gilbert, have been covered through health insurance they buy through the ACA marketplace. 

Gomez and his wife are both independent contractors, as a construction manager in wireless telecommunications and in the medical field respectively—neither receive health care through an employer. Before 2020, their family was covered by Gomez’s wife’s employer-based insurance before she became a contracted employee. 

They have three kids, ages 11, 10, and six—Zachary, Anthony and Charlie. In 2015, Anthony was born with a heart defect, and he eventually received a heart transplant at six weeks old.

Steve Gomez, his wife, and their three children. (Photo courtesy of Steve Gomez)

With Anthony’s health challenges from the heart transplant, the Gomez family’s out-of-pocket health insurance premium costs are $677 more than their monthly mortgage—totaling $3,431 per month to cover their family of five. That figure is between ACA coverage and Medicaid as secondary insurance for Anthony, which only he qualifies for. 

Because of the ACA, the Gomez family has to never have to worry about lifetime caps and or their son getting denied care because of his pre-existing conditions. The restrictions are common in the private health care marketplace. 

Anthony receives a growth hormone, anti-seizure medication for epilepsy, frequent heart checkups and labs, glasses and eye exams, and endocrinology and neurology care, among others.

Gomez has already received a letter notifying his family of the increase in insurance premium, but it did not specify the amount, only noting that the number would go up. 

The Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions posted a notice that in Arizona’s ACA marketplace, the proposed rate increase could be up to 55.3% in 2026.

READ MORE: A new car vs. health insurance? Average family job-based coverage hits $27K

“We’re disgusted and we’re scared to death,” Gomez said. “Our health insurance is going to skyrocket.” 

Gomez and his wife have always been able to provide for their family—but holidays were never as grand as they thought their kids deserved, and they go without vacations or taking time off work. 

“We’re prioritizing our needs over our wants,” he said. “We’re not doing the things that we love to do, because we’re taking care of the things we have to do—and my kids are starting to understand a much bigger sense of responsibility that they shouldn’t have to understand at [their young ages].”. 

Even with the massive medical bill that Gomez’s family shoulders every month, and the knowledge that it will likely go up, he’s confident his family will make it through.  

“We will figure out a way to make sure it happens…and to make sure that our family is taken care of, whether it means…work seven days a week instead of five or six, whatever the case is,” Gomez said. 

But other families might not, the millions of Americans who depend on lower ACA health care rates won’t all have the same options, he said.

“The Republicans have touted for the first four years of Trump’s, the first term of Trump’s presidency, and in and out, about how great they’re going to make health care, and they haven’t done a damn thing,” Gomez said. “Now they’re now, they’re looking to strip away coverage and strip away the protections for millions of American families.”

Hundreds of thousands of Arizonans could see rising health care costs  

The Gomez family’s story is unfortunately not unique. 

​​Federal data indicates 423,025 Arizonans selected ACA plans for 2025 and about 90% of them get federal subsidies to help pay for their coverage, AZCentral reported.

Mesa residents Emily Chaffin and her husband do not receive employer-based health insurance. Chaffin is a part-time professor for three different colleges, and her husband is a pastor. Chaffin, her husband, and their three children are covered under the ACA marketplace.

Chaffin and her husband cannot afford private health insurance, and going without health insurance could bankrupt them if they experience one medical emergency.  

“When people talk about cutting ACA subsidies, what they are really saying is that families like mine should choose between paying for care or putting food on the table,” Chaffin said. “I am asking Republicans to come to the table, stop using families as bargaining chips, and restore the ACA subsidies.”

Vivian Seraphine is a 26-year-old Phoenix resident and community organizer. Last year, she found out she is severely anemic and needs to be on medication to manage her blood levels, among other health complications.

Seraphine enrolled in the ACA—paying nearly $250 a month for health care.

“It’s because of the Affordable Care Act so that I can plan towards the future where my body does not retaliate against me—without that coverage, I would be uninsured and forced to choose between my health and my rent,” Seraphine said. “For me, healthcare is about more than staying alive, it’s about living without fear that a sudden medical emergency will topple the foundation that I’ve worked really hard to build.”

Cricket Peterson is a self-employed realtor and Phoenix resident, two years away from qualifying for Medicare, so she receives care through the ACA, and pays over $350 a month, which is a stretch for her budget.

Last year, she slipped and suffered a head injury, ending up in the emergency room. 

With her ACA coverage, Peterson’s bill from the accident  was around $1,000 instead of over $10,000 had she not been insured. 

“My message to the Republicans is stop playing games with our lives,” Peterson said. “People like me are just trying to stay healthy and make an honest living. We deserve stability and dignity and not uncertainty and fear.”