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Many people who count on the Affordable Care Act for health insurance could face stiff cost increases in January, especially if Congress doesn't extend financial subsidies for the program, sometimes called Obamacare. Democrats are highlighting those concerns in swing states like Wisconsin ahead of next year's midterm elections. Chuck Quirmbach reports from Milwaukee.
MARIE: Un. Deux.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #1: Oh.
MARIE: Trois.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #2: Trois.
CHUCK QUIRMBACH, BYLINE: At Renaissance Child Development Center in downtown Milwaukee, a day care teacher named Marie and about a dozen preschoolers are counting in different languages.
MARIE AND UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: (Singing in non-English language).
(SOUNDBITE OF RHYTHMIC CLAPPING)
QUIRMBACH: Years back, the center looked into providing major medical coverage for the roughly two dozen staff members but found the cost too high. So many employees, including Executive Director Kara Pitt-D'Andrea, are enrolled in the Affordable Care Act. Pitt-D'Andrea says she's been greatly helped by the enhanced premium tax credits that went into effect a few years ago.
KARA PITT-D'ANDREA: And the credits allowed me to bridge the gap without concern of going without health care.
QUIRMBACH: Now with premiums expected to rise and the more generous ACA tax credits in danger of going away, Pitt-D'Andrea favors at least a one-year extension of the financial help. The employer, who calls herself a moderate Democrat, thinks that more needs to be done to make sure workers can access affordable care.
PITT-D'ANDREA: That is the reality of what makes a machine work well and a business work well, is that all the parts are taken care of, all the parts are oiled, all the people are given opportunities to be healthy.
QUIRMBACH: Pitt-D'Andrea spoke at a recent Wisconsin media call organized by Democrats. At another news conference in Milwaukee with Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin, enrollee Nancy Peske said if the extra help goes away, she'll face higher costs. The freelance writer said her son just landed a job, but it doesn't offer health insurance.
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NANCY PESKE: So he's going to have such an astronomical premium that I'm probably going to have to pay that, too. So yeah, it's going to be very tight.
QUIRMBACH: Officials in Wisconsin say 275,000 state residents make use of the enhanced premium tax credits. A statewide poll by Marquette University found 58% of voters overall in Wisconsin support extending subsidies for the Affordable Care Act but that most Republicans want to let the tax credits expire.
About 50 miles outside of Milwaukee at a pub in Watertown, about a dozen members of the Jefferson County Republican Party gathered to watch a Green Bay Packers football game on TV.
(CHEERING)
QUIRMBACH: Here, extending help for ACA enrollees does not have a lot of support. Stepping away from the game, Rita Schulte, a retiree who's on Medicare, the federal health program that covers most seniors, says the Obamacare enhanced subsidies should only be extended a short time, if at all. Schulte says for people who aren't retired like her, she wants bigger changes in the Affordable Care Act that lower costs for taxpayers.
RITA SCHULTE: If they'd ever get it overhauled, maybe we wouldn't need all this extra help from the government because you can't rely on the government to support you, I guess.
QUIRMBACH: Brian Norby, who runs an engineering firm and is chairman of the county's Republican Party, says the enhanced tax credits are a political football.
BRIAN NORBY: And now they're essentially being used as a political tool to heighten up the Democratic base to come out and vote.
QUIRMBACH: As part of a deal to help end the recent government shutdown, Senate Republicans promised a vote on the Affordable Care Act subsidies next month. Vice President JD Vance says the Trump administration has a health care plan of its own coming together. Without providing any details, Vance told Breitbart News he thinks President Trump's plan will even get some Democratic support.
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JD VANCE: Right now, the American people get crap health care, and they pay way too much for it.
QUIRMBACH: But if the White House effort fails, that could upset voters who say Obamacare isn't perfect but is a safety net they know. For NPR News, I'm Chuck Quirmbach in Milwaukee. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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