Collins repeatedly voted against extensions on the Affordable Care Act tax credits and called the ACA credits “poison pills.” She downplayed insurance rate increases and congratulated herself for backroom health care deals. Collins accepted thousands from insurance conglomerates while more than 50,000 Mainers were facing doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled health insurance premiums and over 2,000 people preemptively cancelled their health care ahead of premium increases.
Collins Declined To Cosponsor Legislation To Extend The Tax Credits And Voted For The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ To Slash Medicaid And Terminate The Tax Credits. According to the Maine Beacon, “Those subsidies, first enacted in 2021, lowered monthly premiums by nearly $180 for roughly 50,000 Mainers, according to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. State officials say they saved households $350 million in 2024 and about $90 million so far this year. Without them, the typical monthly premium would jump from about $260 to $440. But Collins voted in June to advance Republican legislation that left the credits out. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” contained nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts and excluded an extension of ACA subsidies. Rolling Stone described Collins’s vote as “critical” to moving the package forward in the Senate. U.S. Sen Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire has proposed the Health Care Affordability Act of 2025, which would make the subsidies permanent, but Collins has yet to sponsor the bill.” [Maine Beacon, 9/15/25]
Collins Took Credit For The Continuing Resolution To Reopen The Government Which Excluded The ACA Tax Credits And Allowed The Premium Subsidies To Expire. According to American Journal News, “Collins leads the Appropriations Committee that crafted the continuing resolution (CR) to reopen the government. She claims to support extending Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) subsidies and reining in President Donald Trump’s spending cuts, but the CR did not include these provisions, and Collins did not join with Democrats who were pushing to add them. ‘I was responsible for not only putting the bill together, but also managing it on the Senate floor,’ Collins said in a Nov. 18 radio interview. ‘Dealing with proposals to change it, negotiating not only with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, but also with the House of Representatives and the administration.’” [American Journal News, 11/24/25]
Collins Voted For A Doomed Three-Year Extension On The ACA Premium Subsidies After She Filed Amendments To “Reform This System” And Hollow Out ACA Provisions. According to Maine Public, “Both measures ultimately failed to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to advance, although senators continue to negotiate on a potential compromise before the ACA premium enhanced tax credits expire at year's end. [...] In a statement, Collins said she supports an extension because the problems in the ACA cannot be fixed overnight. ‘Families in Maine and across the country are struggling with the high cost of health insurance, and I want to prevent an unaffordable spike in health insurance premiums for many Americans who rely on these COVID-era subsidies,’ Collins said in a statement. ‘I voted to proceed to both bills, but neither is the perfect solution to this problem. Therefore, I filed amendments to both bills with changes that would protect the vulnerable Americans who are receiving these enhanced premium tax credits, protect the taxpayer, and reform this system to protect against fraud.’” [Maine Public, 12/11/25]
Nearly 54,000 Mainers Depended On The ACA’s Enhanced Premium Subsidies. According to KFF Health, nearly 53,808 Mainers depended on the Affordable Care Act’s Enhanced Premium Tax Credits. [KFF Health, 3/15/25]
Mainers’ Premiums Were Set To Increase By 77% Without The Enhanced Premium Tax Credits. According to the Portland Press Herald, “If Congress doesn’t extend the subsidies — called Enhanced Premium Tax Credits — by Dec. 31, premiums for ACA plans are set to skyrocket in Maine and across the country. In Maine, the average premium would increase 77%, according to the Maine Office of the Health Insurance Marketplace.” [Portland Press Herald, 11/1/25]
As Of November 2025, Over 2,000 Mainers Had Preemptively Cancelled Their Health Care Ahead Of Rate Increases. According to the Maine Morning Star, “More than 2,000 people who buy marketplace health insurance have already canceled their 2026 coverage, according to Hilary Schneider, director of the Office of the Health Insurance Marketplace. Thousands have also chosen to purchase high deductible plans, she said, making themselves liable to pay large amounts out of pocket, because that is all they can afford.” [Maine Morning Star, 11/25/25]