On a call with reporters Thursday, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville was asked if Republicans should renew enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies as midterms approach. The lawmaker has previously acknowledged the significant number of Alabamians who could lose health coverage if the subsidies are allowed to expire at the end of the year.
“You start cutting that out, we’ve got big problems,” Tuberville (R-Auburn) said recently. “Eliminating those taxes “might lose some folks.”
“My state of Alabama, it would really decimate, you know — 3 out of 5 kids in our state are on Medicaid. It’ll be a tough situation. We’ve got to find our way around it.”
RELATED: Britt, Tuberville hail tax cuts for Alabama families as major win in ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’
As the next expected Governor of Alabama, Tuberville will be holding the state’s highest political office when the changes could take effect.
“That will all be evaluated. All of those things we did in the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill,’ whether it was social security, Medicare, or Medicaid. It’s really not cuts. It’s more reforms,” said Tuberville. “There are some equations on how states get less money or more money. That will be evaluated.”
The senator noted that he has examined the impact of the legislation on Alabama both on a federal and state level.
“We looked at all that from a senator’s standpoint when this bill was being processed. Also, from a governor’s standpoint, knowing that we will hopefully go into that role here in about a year and a half. We will have more on that probably sometime this fall when all of it shakes out.”
According to Tuberville, ‘there’s no way around’ states having to individually contribute to the subsidies.
“Some money is going to have to come from the state,” he said. “Every state is going to have to pick up a little, some more, some less. I think we are on the low end of that in the state of Alabama, but we’ll know more about that sometime in September or October.”
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), enacted in 2010, increases health insurance coverage for the uninsured and implements reforms in the market. The subsidies from the ACA help to make health insurance more affordable for thousands of Alabamians through the lowering of monthly premium costs.
Austen Shipley is the News Director for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @ShipleyAusten
