Affordable Virginia Urges Rep. Kiggans to Reject Empty Health Care Bill and Act on Expiring ACA Tax Credits
Virginia Beach, VA – Today, Rep. Jen Kiggans and Congressional Republicans are expected to vote in support of a health care bill that fails to address the looming expiration of the health care tax credits in two weeks. This bill will raise health insurance costs for families and small businesses. If the ACA tax credits are not extended, Virginia families will face premiums doubling in 2026.
Despite her constituents' urging her to support a viable plan to extend the ACA credits, Rep. Kiggans did not support the discharge petition to bring a floor vote on a three-year extension of the ACA tax credits. This would be her last chance to stand up for her over 20,000 constituents who rely on the credits for affordable health care this year, as the credits are set to expire at the end of this month.
The bill to extend the ACA tax credits for three years is now expected to come up for a vote after a handful of Republicans waited until this morning to sign onto the Democratic-led petition, only doing so after weeks of internal stalling that helped create the current crisis. Rep. Kiggans was not among those who signed on to the petition, but still has the opportunity to urge leadership to bring this to a vote before she and her colleagues go home for the holidays.
“Working families are already struggling to navigate health care each year, and this bill just places new hurdles at the end of a convoluted system,” said Emily Yeatts, Affordable Virginia Campaigns Director. “The Republican health care bill does nothing to actually address the pressing matter of health care affordability for those who will not be able to afford it without the ACA tax credits. Instead, they are parading a bill without a plan to claim that they tried something, but anyone with eyes can see that they are refusing to try anything. Rep. Kiggans has said that she would like a ‘runway’ to create a long-term plan, if that were true, she would support the three-year extension to give working families some peace of mind. We are calling on Rep. Kiggans to reject this farce of a health care plan and instead stay in DC and force a vote on the three-year extension, the only real viable solution for working families in her district.”