NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE STANDS WITH MEMBERS OF CONGRESS FIGHTING TO EXTEND ACA SUBSIDIES AND PROTECT WORKING PEOPLE
NEW YORK (December 17, 2025) — National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial issued the following statement in regard to Affordable Health Care Act tax credits:
“What should be a period of reflection and planning for the new year has become a nightmare for those relying on the healthcare exchange for coverage in 2026.
“Americans have been through enough this year. Millions of federal workers, including essential transportation staff and members of the military, had delayed paychecks due to the longest government shutdown in history, and families reduced what they could put on the table at Thanksgiving due to pauses in SNAP (and increased prices)because of a fight to extend subsidies in the Affordable Care Act that made health coverage more affordable.
“This week, House leadership, driven by uninformed, untrue stereotypes about who receives coverage and a desire to punish the other side of the aisle for standing up for Americans, decided that their game of “own” the other side was more important than ensuring that working people can afford health insurance this holiday season.
“On January 1st, health insurance premiums are set to double, or even triple, for working families unless Congress extends the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits. The only viable path forward is to support the extension of these subsidies without further delay.
“This is unacceptable to working families, the Urban League movement, and the communities that we serve, and should be unacceptable to every sitting member of Congress.
“We stand with the House minority leadership and the brave members on both sides of the aisle who are forcing a vote to extend these subsidies despite Speaker Johnson’s inaction.
“Every working person in this country should be able to see a doctor when they are ill, visit a hospital in a life or death situation, and safely bring life into the world without fear of bankruptcy or choosing between a healthcare premium that month and food.
“At a time when H.R. 1 permanently enshrined trillions of dollars in tax breaks that overwhelmingly benefit wealthy Americans and large corporations, it would be unconscionable for working families who are already struggling under a national affordability crisis to face yet another financial blow from soaring healthcare costs.
“We demand that the House and Senate put aside their differences and extend these subsidies.”