I’ve recently been forced to make painful and difficult choices that impact my personal life as well as my small business because this Congress has been unwilling to renew tax credits that used to significantly lower the cost of my health insurance. My husband and I are both self-employed entrepreneurs. We don’t have access to corporate health plans and the substantial cost sharing that employers typically provide to make health care more affordable for their employees. Instead, we rely on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for quality coverage that pays for services like annual physicals, vaccinations, and other types of preventive care. In 2025, my husband and I each had health insurance plans that we purchased through the ACA Marketplace, and our plans were fully subsidized thanks to the enhanced premium tax credits. At our income level, we received enough subsidy to lower our monthly premium to zero dollars but did have a $7,500 deductible for each of us. Now that those tax credits are no longer available, we pay a combined $2,300 per month in premiums, and we each have an $8,000 deductible for our bronze-level plans.
To go from zero to $2,300 this year was so sudden and drastic that it puts us in a very difficult financial situation; we’ve been forced to account for this new expense, which is equivalent to our mortgage, with no change in our income. It means we’ve had to cut back on household expenses, and I won’t attend a major work conference in Canada even though I am on the board of the hosting organization because I can’t afford it. Beyond that, I’ve had to alter my business model to focus on opportunities that will bring in quick cash at the expense of opportunities that would provide longer-term growth. I’ve also dropped plans to spend on digital marketing for my business. After making all of those cuts and adjustments, I still don’t know for sure if we will be able to maintain our health insurance.
I don’t think most members of Congress understand the significance of my situation. Financial hardships like the one I am now facing simply because my health insurance is so expensive are not unique to me, and they have consequences for the entire U.S. economy. The enhanced premium tax credits have proven highly effective at reducing health care costs for many small businesses and their employees, who make up more than half of all ACA 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 tax credits, however, KFF estimated that ACA Marketplace enrollees would pay 114 percent more on average for their monthly health care premiums. It is no wonder that Small Business Majority’s research found 74 percent of small business owners support extending the tax credits.
When health care isn’t affordable, it impacts more than the current generation of entrepreneurs. It also blocks the next generation of small business owners from pursuing their dreams. I imagine that many aspiring entrepreneurs will now think twice before leaving a corporate job if it means giving up quality health insurance. For now, we’re taking it month to month. I’ve heard elected officials from both sides of the aisle speak at length about their health care affordability concerns. Some of them have even suggested alternatives to the enhanced premium tax credits, or conditions and new restrictions that would have to be met for them to feel comfortable compromising on a renewal of the tax credits. If Congress is serious about addressing the health insurance affordability crisis for small business owners like me and Americans broadly, no compromises, restrictions, or new ideas are necessary. All that has to happen is for Congress to renew a program that has worked well for small businesses. It’s that simple, and it could be done tomorrow. I fear that Congress is more focused on partisan bickering than delivering results for Main Street.
Kelly Berry is a small business owner.
