Dear Community Member, 

Ensuring affordability and lowering the cost of living in California’s 19th Congressional District have been a priority for me this year. As a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and having legislative purview over the federal tax code, I continue to work on ways to deal with those issues by increasing the amount of affordable housing and decreasing the cost of healthcare.  Although I have made progress on affordable housing with my bipartisan bills to incentivize home sales with the protection of investments, increase workforce housing, and reinstate the first-time homebuyers tax credit, House Speaker Mike Johnson is disinterested in bringing down the costs of healthcare. 

Earlier this year, the Majority in the House, led by Speaker Johnson, and the Senate passed the purely partisan One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was signed into law by President Donald Trump. In addition to providing major tax breaks for billionaires, cutting food programs for the poor, and adding trillions to our debt, that partisan bill made the largest cut ever to Medicaid and failed to extend the enhanced premium tax credits (ePTCs) for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), that will expire on January 1, 2026. 

Rep. Panetta spoke to a constituent earlier this year about her 2026 healthcare premiums, which will triple from what she paid in 2025. To see a summary of their conversation, click photo or here.

Since the ePTCs were introduced in 2021, enrollment in the ACA has doubled. In our 19th Congressional District, 36,000 people rely on a tax credit for their ACA funded healthcare plan. If the ePTCs expire, prices will double for many of those people and about one-fifth of them will lose healthcare coverage altogether.

Across the country, over 44 million people rely on the ACA for healthcare. 24 million people use the ePTCs to be a part of the ACA.  Nearly 75% of those ACA enrollees fall in states that President Trump won in the 2024 national election.  However, without the ePTCs, 20 million people will see their prices rise for healthcare.  

Speaker Johnson and the Majority in the House and Senate have had all year to act to keep coverage costs low for tens of millions of Americans by extending the ACA tax credits. Instead, in an 11th hour attempt, the Majority introduced a bill that fails to extend ePTCs, expands associate health plans which could weaken protections in the ACA, and attempts to override the authority of states on reproductive healthcare.

Rep. Panetta spoke on the House floor in opposition to the Majority’s partisan bill,  which fails to extend ACA tax credits. To watch his full floor speech, click photo or here.

Despite that partisan legislation by the Majority, I continue to work to find bipartisan solutions to lower the costs of healthcare for working families. I immediately signed a bill that would extend the ePTC’s for the next three years. This bill was subject to a discharge petition which garnered the requisite 218 signatures from Members of Congress for it to go directly to the House floor for a vote. However, that vote will not be scheduled until January, after the ePTCs expire for millions of people on December 31st. 

In the meantime, I’m spearheading a bipartisan effort to not only extend the ePTCs but also improve our healthcare system. The CommonGround 2025 Act, which I introduced with a bipartisan group of my colleagues, would help lower healthcare costs and protect access to affordable healthcare coverage for working families. The bill would first extend ePTCs for 2026 and implement common sense reforms to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse, ensure insurance subsidies are going to those who need them, and reform pharmacy benefit managers. To ensure nobody misses the chance to sign up for insurance through the ACA, it also extends the open enrollment period until March 19, 2026. Following the first year, the bill includes bipartisan priorities to address long term solutions to help reduce prices for healthcare such as bolstering hospital billing transparency, accelerating pediatric cancer treatment, and my legislation to fix the Medicare physician fee schedule.

Rep. Panetta explains the bipartisan ‘CommonGround 2025’ framework to protect access to affordable healthcare coverage. To watch the video, click photo or here.

The Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act, which I co-lead, would protect seniors' access to healthcare by ensuring Medicare keeps pace with costs. By tying reimbursement rates to inflation, the legislation would help ensure that more doctors are available to treat patients and improve outcomes. In essence, it would empower Medicare to work for patients so seniors can have affordable and accessible healthcare and are not stuck waiting months to see a physician.

Ultimately, reducing the overall cost of living is my priority in Congress, and that includes making sure we are fighting to protect access to affordable healthcare. I’ll continue to push for bipartisan solutions, and work across the aisle to lower costs for working families in California’s 19th Congressional District. 

If you’re interested in staying updated about my fight for affordability in California’s 19th Congressional District, please press HERE.

You also can follow me on facebook, x, or bluesky to keep updated on my work to lower costs for the working families and fight for the values of our 19th Congressional District. 

Sincerely,

Jimmy Panetta
United States Representative
19th Congressional District, California