Pages from the U.S. Affordable Care Act health insurance website healthcare.gov are seen on a computer screen in New York, Aug. 19, 2025.

Texas cannot afford another million citizens without health insurance, but that’s what’ll happen if congressional Republicans take the affordable out of the Affordable Care Act.

Texas already has the highest uninsured rate in the nation, without Congress reducing the subsidies available to low-income people through Obamacare. Kicking a million Texans off the program will also hobble the entire U.S. health care system.

A University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll released Wednesday found that 88% of Texans are concerned about the rising cost of health care.

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Senate Democrats have refused to fund the government until Republican lawmakers restore the subsidies. But President Donald Trump has refused to negotiate, and Democrats show no signs of budging before Healthcare.gov opens enrollment for 2026 insurance plans on Nov. 1.

“It's very clear that affordability is an important driver of health insurance coverage for consumers in Texas,” Texas A&M professor and health care researcher Laura Dugue told me. “They seem to be quite price-sensitive, and the marketplace has been an important part of the reductions in insurance we've........

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