House Must Extend ACA Premium Tax Credits to Keep Healthcare Affordable for Small Businesses

“With countless small business owners and their employees forced to deal with the reality that their health insurance costs skyrocketed overnight because the enhanced premium tax credits (EPTCs) have expired, the U.S. House of Representatives must immediately renew those tax credits to bring costs down and keep healthcare affordable. The EPTCs, which lower monthly premiums for health insurance plans purchased through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace, have proven highly effective at reducing healthcare costs for many small businesses and their employees who constitute more than half of marketplace participants. In 2025 alone, more than 4.4 million out of 5.2 million small business owners and self-employed entrepreneurs enrolled in coverage through the Marketplace had their premiums reduced thanks to the enhanced premium tax credit. Without the EPTCs, however, KFF estimates that ACA marketplace enrollees would pay 114% more on average for their monthly healthcare premiums. It’s no wonder that Small Business Majority’s research found 74% of small business owners support extending the tax credits.

In recent months, elected officials from both sides of the aisle have spoken at length about their healthcare affordability concerns. The simplest and easiest solution to their concerns is for Congress to extend the EPTCs because the EPTCs will deliver immediate relief for small businesses that cannot otherwise afford to access health insurance.”