Scoop: Trump admin pushes back on rising health care costs

• The messaging comes as open enrollment starts on Saturday, and amid reports of premiums doubling — or more — in some states if enhanced COVID-era subsidies expire at the end of the year.

What they're saying: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is projecting the average premium after tax credits to be $50 per month for the lowest cost plan next year — not including any potential extension of enhanced, COVID-era subsidies.

• The memo concedes that would be $13 more on average than in 2025, but argues it's $20 less than the average was in 2020, before enhanced subsidies were enacted during the pandemic.
• The one-pager also touts changes that expand access to HSA-eligible plans that were made as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill.
• "When compared to years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Marketplace enrollees this year will have access to, on average, plans with lower premiums after tax credits and more plan choices overall," the memo states.

The big picture: Democrats have demanded guarantees from Republicans to extend the expiring enhanced subsidies in exchange for reopening the government.

• "We want to lower health care costs, now. We want to solve the ACA premium crisis, now," Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the Senate floor Tuesday.
• Premiums would more than double for millions of enrollees next year if the credits expire, according to one analysis from the end of last month.
• Some Republicans have expressed willingness to negotiate on a plan to extend the tax credits — but not until the government is open. Majority leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has offered a guaranteed vote.