60-Year-Olds Brace for Insurance Hikes of Up to $48K: ‘I’m Terrified’

From 2 Cents a Month to $1,300 a Month

When Angelia Hoomes, a 63-year-old grandmother in Macon, Georgia, finally forced herself to read her 2026 health insurance estimate, it confirmed her fears. Her premium—two cents a month with advance premium tax credits—is set to soar to about $1,300 a month as those credits expire.

Living on Social Security and freelance income, Hoomes said she can’t afford to lose coverage. She’s just one of millions bracing for devastating hikes as enhancements to ACA tax credits are set to expire Dec. 31. Open enrollment opens Nov. 1.

Nationwide, if the enhanced tax credits expire, premiums are expected to more than double on average. For older adults nearing retirement, the increase could be significantly higher than that. A typical 60-year-old couple earning around $85,000 per year could face a roughly $50,000 annual increase in states like West Virginia and Wyoming.

“The doubling in 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.

The Healthcare Standoff

The fate of the tax credits and Republican cuts to Medicaid have become the central battleground in the government shutdown, now almost a month old. Democrats are refusing to approve a government budget until enhanced ACA tax credits are extended, while Republicans insist they won’t negotiate health care subsidies until the government reopens. Meanwhile, the clock ticks toward the Dec. 31 expiration date—and millions of Americans are already seeing the bill for this inaction coming due.

The ACA established health insurance marketplaces with premium tax credits available to help lower- and middle-income enrollees afford their plans. The credits were then expanded under the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act. The policy was effective: Enrollment in ACA marketplaces more than doubled, as over 20 million Americans took advantage of the expanded credits. All this helped to drive the nation’s uninsured rate to historic lows.

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

While the expiring credits mean virtually all ACA health insurance policies will go up, those in their 60s face the biggest premium hikes. “Older adults who are around 60 to 64, they’re not quite old enough to qualify for Medicare,” Jawahar said. “As they’re shopping for plans, they’ll see that the same plan that they had last year is probably unaffordable.”

Coverage Many Can’t Afford to Lose

When Investopedia reached Hoomes, she was on hold with her insurance company hoping for approval for back surgery—a call that had taken on new urgency as the tax credit expiration loomed. Now she fears the insurer knows what she knows: Come January, she might not be able to afford her coverage.

“I’m terrified that my insurance company is going to sit there and go, with these credits expiring, maybe she’ll drop her coverage and we won’t have to pay for her surgery if we just delay at that,” she said. “So I’ve got the stress of trying to heal from that surgery, the worry over the credits, the worry how I’m going to pay over $1,000 per month to continue to have coverage for a bad back, asthma, and diabetes.”

Hoomes said she’ll have to draw on her nest egg to keep coverage—there’s no alternative. “I can’t go without coverage,” she says. “But I’m fortunate enough to have some savings.” She has friends, she said, who don’t have that option.

This isn’t someone who failed to plan or doesn’t understand how insurance works. “I’ve been a licensed insurance agent. I was a financial planner,” Hoomes said. She spent years advising clients on managing risk.

Now she’s one of millions across the U.S. on the eve of ACA open enrollment, facing an impossible situation.

“We’re all seeing the barrel of a gun that’s fixing to shoot us in the face,” Hoomes said. “People are going to start dying because they’ve lost their coverage.”