Dec 22, 2025
Energy
Rep. Kiggans Pushes for ACA Extension of Premium Tax Cuts in Rules Committee
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Rep. Kiggans (VA-02) released the following statement after submitting an amendment to extend the Affordable Healthcare Care Act (ACA) Enhanced Premium Tax Credit (PTC) to the House Rules Committee. This follows her introduction of two bills to temporarily extend the tax credits and her decision to sign two discharge petitions to force a vote on the House Floor. Rep. Kiggans is one of two nurse practitioners in Congress and has made reforming healthcare one of her top priorities in Congress.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the payment reimbursement methods Rep. Kiggans included in her CommonGround legislation would have saved the federal government $500,000—had this amendment passed the Rules Committee.
Rep. Kiggans shared, “ACA premium tax credits are set to expire at midnight on December 31st. Roughly 24 million people in the United States receive this tax credit in order to afford healthcare coverage. Nearly 33,000 people in my district rely on this tax credit to have access to healthcare. As a board certified nurse practitioner, I want all people to have access to health insurance and healthcare.”
“I agree that the pandemic is long over, and these COVID era subsidies should end. I also agree that the Affordable Care Act is unaffordable and has caused premiums to skyrocket over the past decade. It benefits insurance companies more than patients and continues to cost the federal government billions of dollars. That being said, the ACA has been the law of the land for fifteen years and millions of Americans depend on it for coverage. It would be wrong to let this subsidy expire without a concrete plan in place—putting hardworking families in a very difficult position,” she stated.
Rep. Kiggans continued, “We have an opportunity in this Congress to reform marketplace healthcare and there is genuine interest on both sides of the aisle to do this. We have been meeting with Republicans and Democrats for weeks to find common ground and prioritize reasonable reforms that we all agree to.”
“We have a responsibility, as lawmakers, to think of these families and make life more affordable for them. We also have a responsibility to ensure that American tax dollars are not being wasted or spent on fraudulent plans. Which is why I am introducing an amendment, based on my CommonGround for Affordable Healthcare Act, but with a model for reimbursement of the PTC extensions in place and program integrity rules to eliminate the waste fraud and abuse that we are seeing throughout ACA coverage,” she concluded.
On Background
A study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that the enhanced premium tax credits saved subsidized enrollees an average of $705 in 2024, bringing their annual premium payment down to $888. Without this enhanced premium tax credit, yearly premium payments in 2024 would have averaged around $1,500, an increase of 75%.
This amendment fully extends enhanced premium tax credits for people earning below 600% Federal Poverty Level (FPL) and for people earning between 600% and 1,000% FPL, the credits are phased out.
This amendment ensures that these tax credits only go to those who qualify by:
- Directing ACA marketplaces to regularly confirm enrollee eligibility,
- Requiring marketplaces to better notify recipients of the amount of PTCs they are receiving from the federal government,
- Requiring quarterly checks of the Death Master File,
- Ensuring verification and disenrollment of deceased individuals from Exchange coverage,
- Including income verification requirements,
- And requiring recipients to file their taxes to receive the tax credit.
This amendment would be fully paid for and is estimated to save the government $500,000, according to the Congressional Budget Office. This is a fiscally responsible solution that extends the credits for a short time while saving the taxpayers money at the same time.
