A group of 25 Senate Democrats, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, on Wednesday sent a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. criticizing the Trump administration over rising health care costs. Affordability has been a key issue in the ongoing government shutdown.

“Over 90% of American voters say it is important for Congress and the president to lower health care costs,” the letter said. “We urge the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans to join us to lower Americans’ health care costs and reopen the government.”

A recent KFF survey found that the cost of family plans that most workers opt for rose 6% this year, which was more than twice the 2.7% inflation rate during the same period. For employers, this pushed the average annual cost of those plans up to nearly $27,000, with about 23% of the cost, passed along to covered workers. Employers told KFF that a big driver of the increases is the surging costs of prescription drugs, especially GLP‑1. Prices for nearly all aspects of health care have spiked as consolidation across the sector continues, concentrating pricing power as competition declines. 

According to the senators’ letter:

  • An estimated 154 million Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance will face the biggest premium increases in more than a decade.
  • More than four million Americans who get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act will see their premiums soar next year, and families receiving enhanced premium tax credits will face the largest price hike in history if the credits expire.
  • Fifteen million Americans will get kicked off of their health insurance, and millions more with Medicaid will face new, higher out-of-pocket costs.
  • Fifteen million Americans with $49 billion in medical debt are being denied federal relief, while 15 million more are at higher risk of accruing medical debt.
  • Millions of Americans will have to pay “hundreds of dollars more in out-of-pocket costs” for ACA coverage.

“Employers have nothing new in their arsenal that can address most of the drivers of their cost increases,” said Drew Altman, president and CEO of KFF. “That could well result in an increase in deductibles and other forms of employee cost sharing again, a strategy that neither employers nor employees like but companies resort to in a pinch to hold down premium increases.”

Along with Schumer, the letter was signed by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warrenn (D-Mass.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Ron Wyden (D.-Ore).

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