ALAMOSA — Effective January 1, 2026, after weeks of discussion behind closed doors, different lawmakers appearing on cable television to state their case for or against, multiple bills presented by both parties only to fail in either the House of Representatives or the Senate and an increasing number of members of Congress voicing concern about what massive increases in health insurance premiums would do to their constituents, the expanded subsidies passed under the Biden administration that made health insurance affordable for millions of people…expired.

Individuals are facing down bills for their health insurance premiums that could double – or, in some cases, even more – what they have been paying for the last five years.

Sadly, the reason for the outcome is no longer new or even shocking.

Despite mounting pressure and dire predictions from health care analysts and economists alike, lawmakers in Congress simply could not come together and reach an agreement about even extending the subsidies for a temporary period of time while a suitable compromise could be reached.

This will impact an enormous number of people.

Recent reporting from the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation Health News (KFF) and the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that roughly 22 million Americans receive enhanced ACA subsidies to lower their insurance premiums, with about 50% of these recipients – that is, 11 million people - connected to small businesses or self-employment.

And, among those numbers, there is a group of people who are likely to be hit even much harder with this increase than anyone else.

Farmers.

It is estimated that 27% of farmers – more than one out of four –purchased their health insurance on the open market using expanded subsidies to pay the premiums. That number is four times higher than any other demographic in the workforce, showing just how reliant farmers and ranchers have become on the subsidies enabling them to be insured in case they get sick or injured.

But the gravity of that number is amplified when considering the very nature of farming, itself.

Farming is dangerous. Work related death is seven times higher in farming than the national average. Agricultural workers operate heavy machinery; they work outside in all kinds of weather; they often work with herbicides and pesticides, and they work with large animals.  As the saying goes, “there are no small accidents on a farm.”

Taken as a whole, the other challenges are broad sweeping. Drought, floods, early heat waves or late freezing snow. A shrinking labor market. Tariffs that have seriously injured some longstanding markets and made others very unpredictable.

Farmers are also aging, with the average age of a farmer in 2024 being 58.1 years old. It’s a high stress occupation, with OSHA listing it as one of the most “at risk” occupations next to police officers.

“With everything we’ve been seeing over the past decades and definitely over the past few years with increasing input costs and decreasing commodity prices, farmers are already being hit extremely hard," says Tyler Garrett, Chief Executive Officer of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union.  “They’re already struggling to make it, and with these subsidies disappearing, it’s going to make it that much harder to stay in business because they can’t afford the health care they need.

“This is not an easy industry. It’s not immune to unfortunate accidents. And just like anybody, farmers need access to health care so they can continue to provide food, fuel and fiber to the country, but a lot of thema re going to lose their health care because of the expanded subsidies expiring.”

As KFF Health News reports, it is not far-fetched to believe that some farmers may have to leave the farm and an occupation their families have been engaged in for generations to seek a job that comes with insurance.

However, all is not lost. Not yet.

As a party, Republicans have been highly critical of the ACA for years, voting doxens of times to repeal with many attributing the increasing premiums over the last few years to being signs of a broken system.

But there is a growing number of Republican and Democratic lawmakers who, behind closed doors, are seeking to craft an extension that will spare Americans suddenly becoming uninsured due to an inability to pay. Some are even expressing confidence that they can get it done when Congress is back in session.

Even if such an agreement were reached, it would still have to be signed by President Trump and, as of yet, no one is willing to predict what his response may be.