The health care apocalypse has arrived. 

In the past month, many of the 30,000 Vermonters who get their health insurance through Vermont Health Connect — part of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare as it's popularly known — are experiencing sticker shock. Average health insurance premiums on Vermont Health Connect are projected to more than double, the highest rate increases countrywide.

This is a disaster foretold. Democrats in Congress have warned for months that unless pandemic-era health insurance subsidies were extended, the 24 million Americans who get their health insurance through ACA marketplaces would see astronomical price hikes. Yet, despite a 43 day government shutdown, Republicans in Congress and President Trump refused to extend subsidies. 

The price tag for inaction has just arrived.

Vermonters are now faced with excruciating choices. Middle-income participants are facing additional premiums of $10,000 per year for individuals and $32,000 for a family of four. Others are considering going without insurance all together. 

“We can't take out a second mortgage on our house to afford one year of health insurance,” said Arica Bronz, a pilates instructor in Williston, where she lives with her husband, a primary care physician, and their two daughters. 

Bronz’s monthly family premium will rise from $1,100 to $2,700 per month in 2026. After factoring in a $15,000 annual deductible, she said that in case of a serious medical event, her family will pay $47,000 before their insurance kicks in. 

Bronz feels she has no choice. She is going to cancel health care coverage for her family. “We're trying to get all the scans done and just make sure we're tip-top healthy before we make the leap. I can't tell you how much sleep I've lost considering what it's like to jump in this day and age to no health care for a family.”

If too many people drop health care coverage, experts warn that Vermont’s struggling health care financing system could enter a death spiral. 

“I have a tremendous fear that what we are watching before us is the undoing, the dismantling of our healthcare financing system,” said Michael Fisher, Vermont’s chief health care advocate. “This is devastating and it's self-inflicted. And the majority in Congress think it's the right thing to do."

Fisher nevertheless said that those whose income falls within 400% of the federal poverty level — around $130,000 for a family of four — may still qualify for subsidized health care premiums.

As Arica Bronz contemplates a future without health insurance, she said, “We don't have a safety net. Hopefully that will inspire us to just be really thoughtful and careful. ... It's kinda terrifying.”