When describing what it was like to discover how much her Affordable Care Act plan would cost next year, Stacy Cox “used one word repeatedly,” said in ABCNews.com : “devastating.” The Utah-based photographer’s monthly health insurance premium will leap from $495 to $2,168, an unmeetable cost she says will force her and her husband to go without insurance. Cox, 48, is one of an estimated 22 million ACA enrollees who will see their premiums spike in 2026—by an average of 114%, according to health policy group KFF. That rise is largely due to the Dec. 31 expiration of pandemic-era “enhanced” premium subsidies, which are at the heart of the government shutdown, with Democrats insisting any funding bill must also extend the tax credits. If those subsidies disappear, “the impact will no

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