Video: On ACA Subsidies, Fmr. Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA05) Says Rep. John McGuire (R-VA05) Is “kick[ing] those people [he represents] to the curb…[to] give another tax credit to Elon Musk and Peter Thiel”

With Only Two Weeks Before the Affordable Care Act Open Enrollment Deadline, Former Congressman Tom Perriello Joins Protect Our Care as Virginians Feel the Pain of Republican Premium Hikes

 The Affordable Care Act Open Enrollment Period Ends Jan. 30 in Virginia

NBC News: Virginia State Officials Say Roughly Twice as Many People Have Dropped Coverage as the Same Point Last Year

Watch the full event HERE

View photos from the event HERE

Instead, Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans in Congress have prioritized giving more tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations at the expense of the well-being of Americans. While 17 House Republicans joined Democrats in voting to bring back the expired tax credits, Rep. John McGuire voted to raise the cost of health care for the people he represents, even saying that the ACA tax credits “suck.”

As a result, more than 100,000 Virginians are projected to drop out of the Virginia Marketplace in 2026. About half are expected to go uninsured, while others will seek health care outside of the Marketplace that will not be as good as what they had. Enrollment numbers are already down in Virginia, with NBC News reporting that “state health officials say roughly twice as many people have dropped their coverage for 2026 compared with the same point last year.”

This new year brings a health care catastrophe unlike anything this nation has ever seen. Hardworking families will be sent into crippling medical debt, emptying out their savings just to see a doctor. Others will be forced to live without the life-saving coverage they need, while small business owners and those looking to start a small business will face difficult decisions about whether entrepreneurship is feasible. As of 2022, 82% of self-employed workers and small business owners claimed the Affordable Care Act enhanced Premium Tax Credits.

“Before we were able to access coverage through the Affordable Care Act, we were paying about $1,400 a month for a health insurance plan that offered less coverage than what we have now,” said Albemarle County small business owner Elizabeth Beasley, who is the mother of four daughters, including twins. “When we qualified for coverage through the Affordable Care Act, that cost dropped to about $700 a month. Today, that same plan costs us around $1,600 a month. That kind of swing, hundreds of dollars a month, thousands of dollars a year, year after year is kind of staggering … if the tax credits are not renewed, which we know they’re not currently, we’re going to adapt. We’re going to hustle a lot harder, and the cost of that hustle will be the most important thing that we have: our time together as a family.”

“In addition to what John McGuire and this Congress are taking out of the pockets of the middle class, they’re also taking something that you cannot put a price tag on, which is time with your kids,” said Perriello. “People are working a second job in order to pay for health care costs, instead of getting that time with their families. We’re talking about small business owners who are having to put in those extra hours. That’s time they’ll never get back with their daughters. And that’s something that I just don’t understand. How a politician elected to represent a group of people would then go to Washington and kick those people to the curb so that they can give another tax credit to Elon Musk and Peter Thiel?”

“I want to try and make it real for you the kinds of decisions that people in Virginia are facing right now, and what hangs in the balance as the Senate contemplates whether to vote to extend or to take away these tax credits for working Americans,” said Dr. Peggy Plews-Ogan of Charlottesville, an internal medicine doctor. “And frankly, I want to ask John McGuire and any other legislator who voted to take these away, what would you have these people do? What would you say to the Charlottesville businessman who has cancer and is in the middle of his treatments when his health insurance premiums rise overnight because of your vote to a level that he cannot pay? Should he drop his insurance and forgo his chemo? Should he sell his house? Should he start a GoFundMe page?”

“Let’s talk about who is most impacted when those tax credits are taken away,” said Katie Baker, Virginia State Director of Protect Our Care. “It’s small business owners and self-employed folks, about 80% of whom buy their own health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. It’s part-time workers who don’t have quite enough hours to qualify for health insurance. It’s people who are employees of small businesses. Small businesses that have less than 50 employees don’t have to provide health insurance, and it can often be very difficult for those who want to because it’s so hard to scale at that level. But those Affordable Care Act tax credits have made it possible for a lot of employees of small businesses to be able to obtain access to affordable health care and very good, high-quality plans. And those people are either going to lose their health care or pay more for it because MAGA Republicans like John McGuire voted to take those tax credits away.”

About 35,000 people in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District shop for their own health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. A 60-year-old couple living in the district and making $82,000 per year is seeing their premiums for a silver plan jump from $581 to $1,663 with the loss of these tax credits.

News Coverage and Event Assets

• CBS19: Area advocates urge Congress to extend ACA subsidies

• 29News: Health care advocates raise concerns as ACA open enrollment nears its end

• Cville Right Now: Perriello on ACA tax credits: ‘We need to see some Republican courage’

• Photos of the event are HERE and may be published with attribution to Bert Shepherd.

• A shareable recording of the event is HERE and a downloadable recording of the event is HERE.

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Protect Our Care is dedicated to making high-quality, affordable and equitable health care a right, and not a privilege, for everyone in America. We educate the public, influence policy, support health care champions and hold politicians accountable. We fight to expand access to affordable, high-quality health insurance, lower the cost of health care for individuals and families, and reduce inequities in health care based on gender, income, race, ethnicity, geography, or sexual preference.