KC-area cancer patient depends on tax credit. Will Congress let it expire?

In May 2017, Dawn Wheeler’s older sister informed her that she had just been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Wheeler’s involuntary response to the message likely saved her own life.

“As I read that, I took my right hand and of course I put it on my chest like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ And then I felt this huge lump on my left breast,” said Wheeler, 58, a small business owner who lives in Edwardsville with her husband.

Discovering the tumor gave her a chance. But paying for the treatment that has allowed her to survive the last eight years would have been impossible if not for the health insurance she purchased through the Affordable Care Act exchange, Wheeler said.

Now, the expanded ACA tax credits she’s relied on to keep up with the cost of her aggressive treatment are set to expire at the end of 2025.

“My premium should be in the thousands, and that tax credit just brings it down to an affordable amount,” said Wheeler, who told The Star she reliably hits her out-of-pocket spending maximum in January.

A single shot she must receive every other week costs around $10,000 each time, she said.

Wheeler said it’s unnerving to know that her future ability to keep up with chemotherapy expenses could hinge on whether lawmakers can reach an agreement to extend the enhanced premium tax credits.

“It’s terrifying for someone like me,” she said.

ACA tax credits could expire

U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids has been a vocal proponent of extending the tax credits indefinitely. Last month, in a letter to congressional leaders, she argued that even a short-term extension would provide a lifeline for people struggling to keep up with high health care costs.

“If we don’t act, the ripple effects of this increase will be devastating,” the Democratic congresswoman said during a virtual press conference Tuesday. “This is not a hypothetical. Healthy people will be forced to drop their coverage, which will leave the insurance pool with way more people that have chronic conditions or high medical costs, and that drives up premiums for everybody.”

Davids said more than 160,000 people in Kansas rely on the enhanced tax credits, which provide an average annual savings of $705, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that extending the tax credits would cost the government $350 billion over the next 10 years. If the program is rolled back, the agency estimates 4 million people will become uninsured.

A record 200,000 Kansans enrolled for insurance through the ACA marketplace in 2024, according to Alliance for a Healthy Kansas, a health-focused nonprofit. Right now, enhanced premium tax credits are available to more than 93% of Kansans with ACA coverage.

Davids said a family of four in her district could see a $7,000 increase in premium costs if the enhanced credits expire.

“A 60-year-old couple could see a nearly $17,000 increase in their cost each year,” Davids said. “The numbers are staggering and they’re completely unacceptable.”

Medicaid in Kansas

At a virtual press conference late last month, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly predicted that Congressional Republicans will eventually choose to extend the enhanced credits beyond Dec. 31.

“I think they eventually will do (it) because if they don’t, the backlash is going to be so significant,” Kelly said.

As one of the few states that has still not expanded Medicaid, Kelly said Kansas has more to lose than most if the credits expire. Without them, she said, the state won’t be able to prevent people from losing access to health coverage.

“As much as I want to, there’s no way that I can underwrite it,” Kelly said.

“Kansas doesn’t have that kind of fund here where we can dip into it and fill the hole that’s going to be created. I mean, it’s going to be massive. We’ll have over 100,000 Kansans who will lose access to health care.”

Republican lawmakers, including the respective chairs of the House Committee on Health and Human Services and the Senate Committee on Public Health and Welfare, did not respond to requests for comment.