Thousands in WA to lose health coverage if federal subsidy lapses

Thousands of Washington residents who get insurance through an online marketplace known as the Washington Healthplanfinder are weeks away from the start of open enrollment. How much they’ll pay for health and dental coverage next year — and whether some will be able to afford it at all — remains an open question.

The enhanced premium tax credit, a pandemic-era subsidy that has capped premiums bought on the marketplace since 2021, curbing costs for about three-quarters of the 286,000 Washingtonians who get insurance through the market place, will expire at the end of the year without action from Congress.

Debates over that subsidy are at the center of the government shutdown. Democrats in Congress are demanding the Republican majority extend tax credit before they agree to approve fundi