Schumer, Gillibrand, House Republicans face off over health care cliff

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — New Yorkers face health insurance premium increases for 2026, with politicians still trading blame over the looming expiration of Affordable Care Act tax credits. Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York want House Republicans to negotiate on extending the credits to end the federal government shutdown that started on October 1.

ACA premium tax credits are federal subsidies that lower the monthly cost of insurance for working families who buy coverage through the marketplace. They’re supposed to benefit families who make too much to quality for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program but don’t get insurance through work.

Those who benefit the most from ACA subsidies are “families who own the mom and pop corner stores in the five boroughs,” Gillibrand said at a virtual press conference on Thursday. “They’re the families that have owned and operated their own farms in upstate New York for generations. They are self-employed single moms who clean homes to make ends meet before going home at the end of a long day to take care of their kids.”

Gillibrand contends that House Republicans are on a taxpayer-funded vacation and ceding the power of the legislative branch to the executive branch. According to Schumer, Republicans are kowtowing to billionaires interests, cutting health care to offset lowered tax rates on higher tax brackets.

“This isn’t just a bunch of numbers,” Schumer said at another virtual press conference on Thursday. “It’s people suffering who don’t know what they’re going to do without health care. If you have kids and you see that your premiums will go up $20,000, $15,000 a year, you don’t know what to do. What an awful situation to be in.”

But several House Republicans from New York blame Schumer and Gillibrand directly for having “abrogated their responsibility to New Yorkers” by “consistently voting against the clean continuing resolution.” A clean CR would be a short-term bill to keep the government funded without extra policies or spending cuts, which Republicans say Democrats are blocking to force a negotiation over the health subsidies.

Last week, Congressmembers Mike Lawler, Nick Langworthy, Nicole Malliotakis, Claudia Tenney, Nick LaLota, Elise Stefanik, and Andrew Garbarino sent the senators a letter calling out their hypocrisy. The letter accused Gillibrand and Schumer of changing their tune on the CR, which they allegedly previously supported.

The representatives’ letter insists that Democratic Minority Leader Schumer called shutdowns the “politics of idiocracy” back in 2013 and reiterated that no one should want a government shutdown both in 2019 and in 2024. The letter also pointed to comments from Gillibrand in 2013 about how a shutdown “would harm the economy, hurt our military families, and cost taxpayers.”

And Lawler said he’s already on a bill to extend health insurance subsidies: HR5145, the Bipartisan Premium Tax Credit Extension Act. It proposes amending the Internal Revenue Code, extending aid until January 1, 2027. First, it continues the rules for current aid amounts for lower-income taxpayers until that date. Second, it removes an income eligibility cap for those making over four times the federal poverty level. This way, a family of four earning over $128,600—400% of the poverty line—wouldn’t get cut off from the subsidy despite not having employer health insurance.

The “window-shopping” period for New York’s insurance market has opened, which helps people see what the prices will be should Congress not extend the credits by 2026. Figures presented by Schumer’s office on Tuesday projected those cost increases throughout New York. He said that an average New York family of four with an annual income of $125,000 would pay over $14,000 more every year for their health insurance if the subsidies expire. That means over one-fifth of their annual income would go toward insurance.

For example, a single parent in Albany making $70,000 a year would pay $215 more per month for insurance for themselves and two children, per Schumer’s office. That’s over 23% of their income for insurance, totaling $2,580.

In Plattsburgh, an average couple that paid $282 a month in 2025 for a Bronze-level health plan on the state’s exchange could see those premiums approaching $1,700 next year, an increase of about 495% per month. Schumer called this increase—over $15,000 a year—”crippling” for the average family or small business owner in upstate New York.

According to the senators, at least 1.6 million New Yorkers will have to spend more of their paycheck on medical insurance. But Bill Hammond of the Empire Center for Public Policy—citing the New York State Department of Health—has argued that the real number is much lower, under a tenth of the figure provided by Gillibrand. DOH data showed that, while 1.6 million total New Yorkers benefit from enhanced tax credits, only 140,000 enrollees benefit from enhanced tax credits in the Qualified Health Plan market, where the premium spikes will happen.

Still, premiums for these tax credit-eligible consumers in the QHP market are projected to grow by 38% in 2026. Average monthly premiums for individuals will increase from $300 to $414, and for couples, it will increase from $600 to $828, according to DOH data.