The failure of the U.S. Congress to extend the public subsidies that were helping millions of Americans to access public health insurance has resulted in millions losing their health coverage, deepened inequality and increased financial hardship for the most affected, according to Oxfam America and Human Rights Watch.
The two nonprofits say that barely half a year after the expiration of the subsidies, early data reveals that millions of households no longer have health coverage and their healthcare costs have increased sharply.
Available data indicates that the number of people enrolled in marketplace health insurance plans reduced by approximately one million individuals in 2026 when compared to the figures for 2025. The data also shows that a fraction of those who enrolled ended up losing their health coverage due to their inability to fund the policies.
Estimates project that the number of people insured this year could drop by about six million from the number that was insured in 2025.
Human Rights Watch says that the 2025 Big Beautiful Bill Act gave priority to reducing the tax obligations of the wealthy while cutting funding for the health care subsidies that were helping millions to afford insurance policies. The organization says ordinary people have been compelled to fund the tax relief of the rich at the cost of the health care needs of ordinary Americans.
The tax cuts given to the wealthy reduced their annual tax obligations by about $50bn while the subsidies that millions of Americans depended on to make their health insurance affordable required $35bn each year. This shows how the misplaced priorities of Congress are deepening inequality, according to Human Rights Watch.
Many of the people who had depended on the subsidies have now switched to policies offering less coverage while also imposing higher deductibles. The implication of this shift is that Americans are less likely to get the medical care they need due to the higher out-of-pocket costs they have to incur. Reduced coverage also means they will now have to foot the cost of more medical needs than they would have otherwise paid for directly if they had broader coverage.
The situation is likely to get worse as the months roll by unless Congress takes the unlikely step of coming up with measures to reverse the policy change that has put millions of Americans in a tough situation where they have to choose between health care and other necessities like rent.
This situation is likely to be of concern to corporations like Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B) that have extensive equity holdings in health insurance firms.
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