ACA tax credits set to expire, threatening 130,000 Nebraskans with doubled premiums
By Sam Cobb, KOLN
(December 10, 2025)
Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits extended in 2021 are set to expire at the end of the year in just a few weeks, potentially causing monthly payments for more than 130,000 Nebraskans who use the plans to more than double.
“No matter what plan you pick, you’re still looking at increased costs if you’re trying to stick to a monthly premium,” Angie Lauritsen, state director for Nebraska For Us, said. “For many of us, these premiums are not affordable.”
She adds that she has already spoken with many facing price hikes who now feel their best option may soon be to go without health insurance entirely.
“This might be one of those things that is, ‘We’re just going to stick this money into savings accounts and really just hope nothing catastrophic happens,’” she said. “We’re going to hope we don’t get in a car accident. We’re going to hope we don’t get sick.”
Audrey Horn of Omaha has utilized an ACA marketplace plan since she retired from her job that provided coverage in 2019 and says she cannot bring herself to take the risk of not being covered.
“It’s hard when you have a monthly bill just going up hundreds of dollars that you now have to plan for,” she said.
Horn said she and her husband now feel they have no choice but to bite the bullet and pay the extra money come January.
“Unfortunately, we’ll be using a lot of the money we had saved for fun things in retirement,” she said. “We’ll be using that now to pay insurance premiums.”
Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts is one of the lawmakers set to vote on opposing health care proposals on Thursday.
The Democrats are looking to extend those subsidies for another three years, while the Republicans’ plan is to give money for health insurance directly to people through health savings accounts and increase accessibility to plans with less coverage.
“The Republican plan is going to be extending those copper plans to everybody,” Ricketts said Wednesday in a call with reporters. “A lot of people will have the opportunity to look at those plans and see if it’s something that’s fit for them.”
The senator added that he doesn’t think either proposal will gather the 60 votes needed to pass.
