Healthcare Crisis as Americans Enter 2026 Without Insurance

Fri Jan 02 2026 09:53:22 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Millions of Americans grapple with drastic increases in healthcare premiums as subsidies from the Affordable Care Act expire, leaving families like Adrienne Martin's facing dire choices for the New Year.

As 2026 begins, many Americans, including families like Adrienne Martin's, are forced to navigate the healthcare landscape without insurance due to soaring premium costs following the expiration of ACA subsidies. The situation reflects a growing concern about access to affordable healthcare and the political gridlock impacting potential extensions to the subsidies. With average premium increases of up to 114% expected, many families are left with difficult decisions on their coverage options.

Adrienne Martin and her family are starting the New Year off without healthcare.

The 47-year-old Texas mother had to make a difficult choice when she found out her monthly healthcare premium was increasing in 2026 from what she described as a manageable $630 (£467) to an unaffordable $2,400 (£1,781).

Her husband depends on an IV medication to treat a blood-clotting disease that costs $70,000 a month without insurance. Knowing their benefits would expire, the family stockpiled the drug to survive the first few months of the year.

It would be like paying two mortgage payments, she said of the new monthly price for healthcare. We can't pay $30,000 for insurance a year.

Ms Martin and her family are not the only ones facing this conundrum. Millions of Americans will see their healthcare bills skyrocket when these subsidies, which were provided through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, expire.

Some members of Congress on both sides of the aisle attempted to extend these subsidies into 2026, but Washington was gridlocked. A vote in the new year could offer hope, but until then, many like Ms Martin will have to live without insurance or see their bills steeply increase.

About 24 million Americans buy health insurance through the ACA marketplace, and the majority were used to receiving tax credits to lower the monthly price.

Those tax credits, also referred to as subsidies, were first introduced through former President Barack Obama's ACA in 2014. They were then expanded during Covid.

The fight to extend the subsidies became the centre of the longest government shutdown in US history, which went on for more than 40 days earlier this year.

Democrats wanted to force Republicans to extend the subsidies for an additional three years, which would cost $35bn per year. Republicans did not want the government to foot the bill for another three years of subsidies without spending cuts.

Without the subsidies, the monthly cost of healthcare could rise by 114% on average, according to health research non-profit KFF.

Maddie Bannister is among the Americans bracing for that. The California mother, who just had her second child, was paying $124 a month for her family of three in 2025. Now, with a new baby and no ACA subsidies, she is preparing to pay $908 a month.

So many people are going to choose to be uninsured because it's cheaper to pay a penalty for being uninsured than it is to have healthcare, she said.

While Ms Bannister is stomaching her new bill, and Ms Martin is going without healthcare, others are resorting to different government programmes to get their coverage.

The situation remains fluid as Congress is expected to revisit the subsidies early in January, but for many, the damage is already done. As 27 million Americans find themselves uninsured, the healthcare crisis in the United States faces serious challenges that require urgent attention.