Rep. Bresnahan Has Failed to Permanently Extend Critical Health Care Tax Credits That Benefit Tens of Thousands of His Constituents

October 7, 2025

Scranton, PENNSYLVANIA - On Sunday, concerned community members held a candlelight vigil on the steps of City Hall to bring awareness to the more than 240,000 Pennsylvanians who could lose their health care coverage if Congress lets these health care tax credits expire. The event highlighted NEPA families facing unaffordable insurance premiums and called on Congressmen Bresnahan and his Republican colleagues to return to the negotiating table on behalf of their working-class constituents. Last month, Congressman Bresnahan failed to come to a deal that protects Pennsylvanians’ health care and allowed the federal government to shut down.

Without these tax credits, monthly costs for Pennie enrollees are expected to increase by 82% on average. This year, Congressman Bresnahan has continuously voted to attack Medicaid, which has resulted in devastating cuts that will rip care away from more than half a million Pennsylvanians, threaten hundreds of thousands of health care jobs, and will shutter rural hospitals across the Commonwealth. Constituents called on Bresnahan to support plans to reverse their harmful health care cuts, prevent health care costs from rising even more, and reopen the government.

ICYMI: Times-Leader: Dozens gather for vigil for thousands who could lose health care coverage

• Organizers and attendees called on U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, who represents the 8th Congressional District, and U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, to support lower health care premiums.

• Under the Trump Administration’s spending bill, which was signed into law in July, the enhanced premium tax credits that were first introduced in 2021 will expire. According to Pennie, the state’s Obamacare marketplace, this will cause insurance premiums to increase by 82%.

• In the 8th Congressional District, which covers Lackawanna County and parts of Luzerne County, Pennie said premiums will increase by 71%.

• Pennie estimated in a June 12 department letter to House Delegation on the Reconciliation Bill that 270,000 Pennsylvanians will lose access to health care “due to the collective impact of the cost increases and enrollment barriers” set forth in the spending package.

FOX56: Scrantonians hold candle vigil for Affordable Care Act tax credits

• Five days into the government shutdown, Scranton citizens gathered to urge Pennsylvanian congressmen to keep negotiating with democrats.

• Outside Scranton city hall they displayed 245 candles – each representing one thousand people – the number of Pennsylvanians estimated will lose their coverage if the credits aren’t renewed.

• The tax credits help lower health insurance costs when policies are bought through the Affordable care act’s marketplaces. If the credits expire, Pennie, Pennsylvania’s health care marketplace, estimates that average monthly prices will increase by 81%.

• To the crowd demonstrating, healthcare isn’t partisan, it’s a human issue. One that if not tackled could leave hundreds of thousands uninsured.

Scranton Times-Tribune: Bresnahan event featuring House Speaker Johnson canceled amid shutdown

• A Scranton fundraiser for Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan featuring House Speaker Mike Johnson won’t take place Sunday evening as originally planned amid the ongoing government shutdown, Bresnahan spokeswoman Hannah Pope confirmed Friday.

• Friday marked the third day of the federal government shutdown that began Wednesday after congressional Republicans and Democrats failed to reach a funding deal to keep it open.

• Democrats continue to demand the extension of enhanced tax credits implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic that, for many Americans, make more affordable health insurance purchased through Affordable Care Act marketplaces.

• They’re also the focus of Sunday’s planned protest on the steps of City Hall, where participants plan a vigil with 245 battery-powered tea lights “representing the 245,000 Pennsylvanians who could lose coverage if ACA premium tax credits expire,” per a press release. Those individuals risk losing their Pennie coverage — Pennie being Pennsylvania’s official health insurance marketplace — “forcing families to choose between health care and basic necessities,” organizers contend.

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