A health care bill passed in the U.S. House of Representatives last Wednesday did not include plans to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits, which expire at the end of the year. Loss of these tax credits could mean that 130,000 Alabamians could lose their health insurance coverage, with more expected to pay notably higher premiums in 2026.

Extending ACA tax credits has been a point of contention in Congress this year. Democrats pushed a vote for a one-year extension of the tax credits, which were a COVID-era measure to reduce premium costs for ACA Marketplace health insurance plans, as a condition to reopen the government during this year’s government shutdown. Extending the subsidies was popular among Democratic lawmakers, as well as some moderate Republicans. Last week’s bill narrowly passed in the House, coming in at a 216-211 vote, and will most likely not be voted on in the Senate, meaning the subsidies will lapse at the end of the year.

In Alabama, about 446,000 Alabamians — nearly all of the state’s ACA health care enrollees —- qualify for ACA tax credit subsidies. When subsidies lapse next year, premiums are expected to increase by 93% across the state, according to health care policy research nonprofit KFF. As premiums increase, enrollees are more likely to downgrade their coverage or choose not to enroll in a health care plan entirely due to affordability. KFF estimates that 130,000 Alabamians are expected to lose their health insurance due to the lack of subsidies. 

“That estimate is a combination of people who will no longer qualify for subsidies and people who will choose not to enroll in the marketplace because now it’s way too expensive,” Debbie Smith, campaign director for Alabama Arise’s Cover Alabama, told AL.com.

Alabama lawmakers have expressed differing opinions about extending ACA tax credit subsidies. U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-AL, spoke against extending subsidies, saying that the current tax credit plan is “a broken, unaffordable system that’s wrought with fraud and failing the Alabamians who truly need it, all while extending COVID-era subsidies with no income caps.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Selma, called for extending the subsidies, saying, “Millions of Americans will find themselves one diagnosis away from bankruptcy, but rather than addressing the crisis that they created, Republicans are pushing legislation that will make matters worse.” 

Instead of extending subsidies, Republican lawmakers have proposed the “Lower Healthcare Premiums for All Americans Act,” which would set aside funds for “cost-sharing reductions” for ACA health care plans as well as expand association health care plans for small businesses and the self-employed. This bill is unlikely to be voted on until next year.

Alabama’s House Republicans favor this plan, with U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Hayleyville, releasing a statement in favor of the plan.

“By passing the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, we are making life more affordable for all Americans by: bringing down premiums, expanding coverage, and giving workers and families more choices,” Aderholt wrote on X. 

Alabama top stories in brief

Alabama student killed in Brown mass shooting

• Ella Cook, a college student from Mountain Brook, was one of two students killed in the Brown University shooting on Dec. 13.
• Cook was a sophomore at Brown and the vice president of the Brown University College Republicans.
• Cook was also a parishioner at Birmingham’s Cathedral Church of the Advent. This church’s reverend, Rev. Craig Smalley, described Cook as an “incredible, grounded, faithful bright light.”
• Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey ordered flags across the state to be flown at half-mast last week as a memorial to Cook.
• The shooting took place on Brown’s campus during an exam study session in one of the university’s engineering and physics buildings. Claudio Neves Valente, the suspected shooter at Brown as well as in the murder of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, was found dead by law enforcement on Dec. 18.

Former NFL quarterback drops out of lieutenant governor race

• AJ McCarron, a former University of Alabama and NFL quarterback, ended his campaign for the Republican nomination for Alabama’s lieutenant governor last week.
• McCarron, a Mobile native, shared a statement saying that he was ending his campaign in order to pursue a new football opportunity. While McCarron’s statement did not specify what this opportunity would be, it was announced later in the week that he is taking over as the head coach of the Birmingham Stallions UFL team.
• McCarron announced his candidacy in October, despite the fact that he was not registered to vote prior to beginning his campaign.
• In his statement, McCarron also endorsed current U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s gubernatorial campaign. 
• Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate, pastor Dean Odle, Army veteran Patrick Bishop and real estate agent Nicole Wadsworth remain in the race for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. On the Democrat side, current state Rep. Phillip Ensler announced his bid for the office last week.

UA and UAB students, professors take Alabama’s anti-DEI law to court

• A group of students and professors from the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama at Birmingham have taken their fight against Alabama’s anti-diversity, equity and inclusion law to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
• The plaintiffs argue that the state’s law, which went into effect in October 2024 and bans DEI initiatives and discussion of “divisive concepts” in public schools throughout the state, violates their free speech rights.
• Since the law went into effect, spaces for Black and LGBTQ students have closed at universities across the state, and other student groups have seen their funding slashed or totally revoked.
• Students and professors challenged the law earlier this year by seeking a preliminary injunction against the law, but U.S. District Judge David Proctor ruled in August that their lawsuit did not meet the criteria for receiving an injunction.

Tuberville placed on list of anti-Muslim extremists 

• U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-AL, has been placed on a list of anti-Muslim extremists compiled by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
• CAIR pointed towards Tuberville’s recent introduction of two bills in the legislature that CAIR considers Islamophobic bills: the “No Sharia Act,” which would ban the implementation of Islamic law in U.S. courts. Sharia law is a body of religious law that is utilized as a legal basis in some Muslim majority countries, but not in the United States. Tuberville has also introduced a companion bill, the “Preserving a Sharia Free America Act” — which would allow the government to deny immigration to those they deem as supporting sharia law. 
• Tuberville has also, in recent days, ramped up attacks on Muslims on social media, posting a statement saying that Islam is “not a religion. It’s a cult.”
• After being placed on CAIR’s list, Tuberville took to social media again, this time to say that he finds the label to be a “badge of honor.”

More than 10,000 acres of forest preserved along Alabama-Georgia stateline

• The Conservation Fund announced last week that they’ve completed their Stateline Forest project, transferring ownership of more than 10,000 acres of longleaf pine forest along the Alabama and Georgia stateline to the states for preservation.
• The project protects a stretch of longleaf pine forest connecting the Talladega Forest in Alabama to the Paulding Forest in Georgia. Longleaf pine forests are one of the most threatened ecosystems in the United States — historically, covering 90 million acres of land across the Southeast, but now only covering 5.2 million acres. 
• Additionally, 45 miles of waterways will also be protected as well.
• The land will be managed by the Alabama Forestry Commission and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Our articles you might have missed

• If you’re looking for something to read this December, we just released the first book review for Alabama Spotlight. Like everything connected to Alabama Spotlight, our goal is to showcase unique people, places and things that make Alabama special. Wesley Hyde starts us off with the critically acclaimed “Alabama Moon” by Watt Key.

• In the latest Alabama Spotlight podcast episode, Harrison Neville sat down with Jefferson County Greenways CEO Darryl Washington and Janet Simpson, the COO and deputy director. Listen to learn more about the work Jefferson County Greenways is doing in the region and about East Side Park, their upcoming project in the Roebuck Springs Neighborhood.

• In the most recent edition of The Longleaf Hiker, we visit Red Mountain Park, a beautiful park steeped in Alabama history. Check out our article Hiking with history at Red Mountain on our website.

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