A Look at the Impact of Devastating Vote to Hike Premiums for Thousands of Granite Staters

CONCORD, NH — Today, New Hampshire State Senator Cindy Rosenwald, Rep. Lucy Weber and Phil Sletten, Research Director at the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute, joined Protect Our Care NH a day after Congress again voted to eliminate enhanced premium tax credits.
After months of chaos and uncertainty, Congress goes home having allowed these tax credits to expire, triggering sharp premium hikes for millions of Americans who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. According to reporting from NBC News, when enhanced tax credits expire, many enrollees nationwide could see their monthly premium payments more than double on average — even as insurers themselves are already raising charges by about 26% in 2026.
Here in New Hampshire, the impact is already being felt. Nearly 50,000 Granite Staters used enhanced premium tax credits in 2025 to make coverage affordable. With those credits set to expire, analysts estimate that a single person in their mid-40s earning about $31,300 annually could see total premiums increase by roughly $1,344, while a New Hampshire couple in their 60s earning $90,000 could face an increase of about $14,712.

Speakers emphasized that these decisions will have lasting consequences for public health, rural hospitals, and family financial stability across the state.
Sen. Cindy Rosenwald said:
““On average, health insurance premiums will more than double — increasing by about 114% — and in New Hampshire that will affect more than 47,000 people who buy coverage on the marketplace. Families are going to be forced to make impossible choices: do they keep the heat on, or do they keep their health insurance?”

Phil Sletten added:
“Health care costs have been among the fastest-growing expenses New Hampshire families have faced over the past two decades — alongside housing and child care.The average annual premium for a family in New Hampshire is now about $26,000. That’s the equivalent of buying a new car every single year just to maintain coverage. That premium doesn’t include the cost of anything going wrong — no one getting sick, no out-of-pocket costs. That’s just the price of staying insured.”

Rep. Lucy Weber concluded:
“The consequences for rural New Hampshire are mind-boggling. People simply won’t be able to absorb these higher costs into already strained family budgets, and many will choose to go without coverage. Without coverage, people skip routine care, miss early diagnoses, and delay treatment — which is worse for their health and far more costly in the long run. Emergency rooms are already stretched to their limits, and this will push even more people into the most expensive and least efficient form of care.”

You can watch the full event here and learn more about the health care disaster here.