The Affordability Crisis Is a Healthcare Crisis

Affordability is on everyone’s mind right now. You feel it at the gas pump, you feel it at the grocery store, and you certainly feel it when the electric bill arrives. But there is a silent, devastating cost within this crisis that isn’t being talked about enough: the cost of healthcare.

From routine prescriptions to life-saving treatments, it has become absurdly expensive just to survive in the United States. Traveling across Tennessee’s 6th District, I hear the same story: people aren’t just fighting illnesses; they are fighting the financial ruin that comes with them. Even for those with insurance, “coverage” no longer guarantees “care.”

A Policy-Driven Crisis

How did we get here? It wasn’t an accident. Much of our current situation stems from the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act, passed by the Republican Congress and signed into law in July 2025. This legislation ended the enhanced federal premium tax credits that had made Marketplace plans affordable for 23 million Americans, including our self-employed neighbors, small business owners, and gig workers.

In Tennessee, we saw a high-water mark for ACA enrollment in 2025 because of those subsidies. But as of January 2026, the tide has turned. Preliminary data suggests Tennessee has already lost between 11,000 and 18,000 enrollees. This is likely just the tip of the iceberg; we expect a massive drop-off after March 31, 2026, when the premium payment grace periods expire. We won’t know the full, cumulative damage until further figures are released in July.

The “Deductible Death Spiral”

For those trying to keep their insurance, the reality is grim. Because of the loss of subsidies, many are forced to downgrade their coverage just to stay enrolled.

• On average, premiums without these subsidies have skyrocketed by 114% or more.
• Deductibles for middle-income families have jumped from roughly $2,000 to as much as $10,000 or even $20,000.
• For our lowest-income neighbors, deductibles that were once $150 have spiked to $7,000.

When a deductible is higher than your savings account, you don’t have health insurance, you have a worthless piece of paper.

The Stranglehold on Tennessee Hospitals

The consequences aren’t just personal; they are systemic. The OBBB Act also gutted Medicaid, making it harder to apply for or qualify for benefits. Roughly $7 billion has been cut from TennCare, and we project that 45,000 to 75,000 Tennesseans will lose their coverage entirely.

When people lose coverage, they wait. They wait until a minor issue becomes a life-or-death emergency. They end up in the ER, and when they can’t pay, the hospital absorbs the cost. Our healthcare infrastructure is already at a breaking point:

• Since 2010, 20 Tennessee hospitals (mostly rural) have closed.
• Nine more are currently at risk of shutting their doors.
• As of 2022, nearly 60% of our hospitals were already operating at a loss.

Between the TennCare cuts and a predicted 21% decrease in hospital reimbursements, our medical centers are in a financial stranglehold. To stay afloat, they are cutting essential services like obstetric care and specialist treatments. When the services go, the doctors follow, leaving entire communities in “healthcare deserts.”

A Question of Priorities

Our Republican representatives either don’t grasp the gravity of the OBBB Act, or they are simply choosing not to vote in the economic interests of Tennesseans. We are told we “cannot afford” to stabilize our hospitals or subsidize premiums, yet we continue to spend nearly $900 million per day on military operations overseas. 

This isn’t a math problem; it’s a values problem. We have the resources; we just lack the conviction to spend them on our own people. We have the money, we don’t have the values.

I am running for Congress because the people of the 6th District deserve a system where getting sick doesn’t mean going broke. They deserve hospitals that stay open and a government that understands healthcare isn’t a luxury, it is a necessity.

We are the only developed nation in the world without some sort of universal basic healthcare.