60-year-olds brace for insurance hike of up to $48K: ‘I’m terrified’

From 2 cents per month to $1,300 per month

When Angelia Homes, a 63-year-old grandmother in Macon, Georgia, finally forced herself to read the 2026 health insurance estimates, her fears were confirmed. Her premium — two cents a month with prepaid tax credits — is set to rise to about $1,300 a month as those credits expire.

Homes, who lives on Social Security and Independent Income, said she couldn’t afford to lose coverage. She’s just one of millions bracing for devastating spikes as improvements to the ACA tax credits are set to expire on December 31. Open registration opens on November 1.

Nationally, if the enhanced tax credits expire, insurance premiums are expected to double on average. For seniors nearing retirement, the increase can be much higher. A typical 60-year-old couple who earns about $85,000 a year could face an annual raise of about $50,000 in states like West Virginia and Wyoming.

“The doubling of insurance premiums that people are seeing…is the equivalent of taking out a second mortgage,” said Vaishu Jawahar, director of policy programs at Protect Our Care.

Health confrontation

The fate of Republican tax breaks and cuts to Medicaid has become the central battleground in the government shutdown, now nearly a month old. Democrats are refusing to approve a state budget until the ACA’s enhanced tax breaks are extended, while Republicans insist they will not negotiate health care subsidies until the government reopens. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking toward the expiration date of December 31 — and millions of Americans are already seeing the bill for this inaction coming due.

The ACA has created health insurance marketplaces with premium tax credits available to help low- and moderate-income enrollees afford their plans. Appropriations were then expanded under the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Control Act. The policy was effective: Enrollment in the ACA’s marketplaces doubled, with more than 20 million Americans taking advantage of the expanded credits. All of this has helped push the nation’s uninsured rate to historic lows.

A 60-year-old couple in Wyoming earning about $85,000 faces an annual premium increase of about $48,000, one of the largest in the country. West Virginia isn’t far behind at about $47,000, followed by Alaska, Connecticut and Arkansas.

While the expiring credits mean that almost all ACA health insurance policies will rise, people in their 60s face the biggest rise in premiums. Jawaher said: “The elderly, between the ages of 60 and 64, are not old enough to qualify for medical care.” “As they look at plans, they will see that the same plan they had last year is probably not sustainable.”

Coverage many cannot afford to lose

when Investopedia When she arrived at Homes, she was on hold with her insurance company hoping to get approved for back surgery — a call that took on new urgency as the tax credit neared expiration. Now she fears the insurance company will know what she knows: By January, she may not be able to afford her coverage.

“I’m terrified that my insurance company is going to be there and go, and with these credits expiring, maybe they’ll drop their coverage and we won’t have to pay for her surgery if we delay it,” she said. “So I’m struggling with the stress of trying to recover from that surgery, worrying about credits, worrying that I’m going to have to pay more than $1,000 a month to continue getting coverage for back pain, asthma, and diabetes.”

Homes said she would have to rely on her nest egg to maintain coverage, as there was no alternative. “I can’t go without coverage,” she says. “But I’m lucky enough to have some savings.” She said she has friends who don’t have that option.

This is not someone who failed to plan or doesn’t understand how insurance works. “I was a licensed insurance agent. I was a financial planner,” Homes said. She spent years advising clients on risk management.

Now she is one of millions across the United States on the eve of ACA open enrollment, facing an impossible situation.

“We all see the barrel of a gun set up to shoot us in the face,” Homes said. “People will start dying because they lose their coverage.”