ISMA is joining the Coalition of State Medical Associations in a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, asking them to extend expiring tax credits for Affordable Care Act premiums. The letter notes the Congressional Budget Office has predicted 24.3 million Americans will lose Affordable Care Act health care coverage or face substantial premium increases if Congress fails to act this year. 

“Physicians and patients cannot sustain such losses,” the letter warns, especially with Medicaid and the ACA already under pressure from $1.1 trillion in funding cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The letter from the Coalition of State Medical Associations warns the cuts “will place an unsustainable, uncompensated care burden on physicians, clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes. Underserved and rural area hospitals and physician practices in these communities will be forced to close or dramatically reduce services.”

The premium tax credits will expire at the end of the year unless Congress acts. The letter cites a Hart Research survey last year which found 82% of Americans support extending the tax credits to lower premium costs for ACA coverage.
 
The letter is scheduled to be delivered on Sept. 8.