P3- Health Premium Rescue Plan

Program 3: Health Premium Rescue

Goal: reverse the 2026 premium shock before 2028 open enrollment.

Components:

1. Restore the enhanced ACA premium tax credits, retroactive where feasible, with an income cap and a sunset to control cost.
2. Expand Medicare drug-price negotiation to more drugs and extend the $35 insulin cap to private insurance.
3. Surprise-billing and price-transparency enforcement for hospitals and insurers.

Why the data supports it: two-thirds of the public, including 72% of independents, said letting the credits lapse was wrong, and 80% of those blamed Trump or congressional Republicans. Health care is the issue where Democrats’ trust advantage is widest (13 to 21 points).

Cost: restoring the enhanced credits was estimated by the CBO at about $350 billion over a decade, as reported by KFF Health News. Offsets could include drug-negotiation savings.

Bipartisan hook: many of the 2026 premium increases landed in Republican-held and rural districts; prescription drug pricing is the one health area where voters split more evenly between the parties.

Success metric: marketplace enrollment returns to its 2025 level; premiums for subsidized enrollees fall.