As Americans enrolled in Obamacare begin to shop around for the price of their coverage by 2026, some enrollees like Beth Dryer in Norfolk, Virginia, are realizing they have no choice but to cancel it altogether.
Dryer is the executive director of 757 Creative ReUse Center and in 2015 was paying just under $80 for her premium. He hadn’t checked his 2026 options until Thursday and the increase was shocking.
“This says I now have a $0 advanced premium tax credit, so it looks like I have no tax credit for this so far for next year,” he began reading from the enrollment site. “Okay, so it looks like the same plan I have this year now would be $425.03 a month next year, which is completely out of my budget.”
A premium four times what he had been paying and more than he had anticipated.
When asked how she felt seeing such an increase, she said “not very good” and added that she will “absolutely” have to cancel her coverage, leaving her in a “really scary” situation.
A bank of storm clouds hovers over the dome of the U.S. Capitol on day 30 of the government shutdown, in Washington, Oct. 30, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
“I can put money in a savings account and use it if absolutely necessary, but otherwise there is no more routine care for me. There are no mammograms, there are no annual visits, and I know there are a lot of things in my family that could help me at this age, every woman in my family has had breast cancer, so I know that’s on the table for me, but I feel pretty helpless right now,” she said.
-Justin Gomez of ABC News
