The Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces provide health insurance for 24 million people—and more than 90 percent of enrollees receive premium tax credits to make their coverage affordable. Congressional Republicans’ opposition to extending the enhanced subsidies for purchasing marketplace health insurance, which expires at the end of the year, means that these subsidized enrollees are facing a massive premium increase for 2026 coverage, with average costs projected to increase by 136 percent.
In an attempt to distract from the damage these premium increases will cause and the Big “Beautiful” Bill’s (BBB) historic health care cuts that Trump signed into law this summer, the White House as well as Senate and House Republican leaders are peddling a bald-faced lie: They are erroneously claiming that Democrats are holding funding for the federal government hostage in order to pay for health care for undocumented immigrants. While Democrats in Congress have made clear that they cannot support funding bills that sustain the Republican health care cuts that increase costs, in no way would reversing those cuts and extending enhanced premium tax credits provide federal funding for undocumented immigrants’ health coverage.
ACA premium tax credits are available only to U.S. citizens and immigrants who are lawfully present in the United States.
In reality, ACA premium tax credits are available only to U.S. citizens and immigrants who are lawfully present in the United States. Federal law limits both eligibility for enrollment in the marketplaces and premium tax credits to people who can prove they reside here lawfully. Furthermore, every marketplace enrollee is required to have their Social Security number or other identity documents verified to receive coverage.
Undocumented immigrants are also ineligible for other federally funded health coverage, including Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). In fact, lawfully present immigrants are generally subject to a five-year waiting period before becoming eligible for Medicaid.
As the government funding deadline approaches, congressional Republicans are desperate to distract from the fact that the Trump administration’s agenda is increasing health care costs; shuttering rural hospitals and clinics; and betraying the president’s own promises to lower prices. It’s a key reason why poll after poll shows that the American people would blame the president and congressional Republicans in the event of a shutdown and that the American people want Congress to prioritize lowering health care costs in funding the federal government. Telling debunked lies about undocumented immigrants will not take away from the real pain that millions of Americans will experience in the months ahead if Congress fails to act.