Congress is still deadlocked on a plan to extend Affordable Care Act enhanced premium subsidies, with less than one week to go before a key enrollment deadline — a limbo that experts say leaves many households with a difficult financial choice .

Roughly 22 million Americans receive the enhanced subsidies, which lower the cost of their ACA insurance premiums. They'll expire at year's end without congressional action. If that happens, the average recipient would see premiums for their insurance plan more than double in 2026 , according to KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group.

Meanwhile, households that rely on the ACA marketplace to buy health insurance — self-employed business owners, freelancers and early retirees, for example — must choose a health plan by Dec. 15 to en

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