Nevadans without health coverage have until Dec. 15, 2025 to enroll through Nevada Health Link, the state’s official health insurance marketplace, if they want coverage that begins Jan. 1, 2026. Enrollment through Nevada Health Link runs from Nov. 1, 2025 through Jan. 15, 2026, and coverage that starts Jan. 1 requires enrollment by Dec. 15. 

Nevada Health Link is the only place where qualifying residents who don’t have employer-sponsored insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid can access federal tax credits to help make health insurance affordable. 

But without congressional action to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits—which are currently scheduled to expire at the end of this year—many Nevadans could face sharply rising costs. Experts warn that monthly premiums for those on the marketplace are expected to rise significantly in 2026, with average rate increases of about 26 percent before subsidies. 

Approximately 95,000 Nevadans receive enhanced subsidies to lower their monthly premium costs on Nevada Health Link, and more than 110,000 Nevadans are currently enrolled in coverage through the marketplace.  If enhanced subsidies expire, many could see their out-of-pocket costs rise substantially, and some could become uninsured. 

Families across Nevada are already stretched thin. In our congregations, I meet people every week who are being forced to choose between medications, groceries, and rent, choices no one should ever have to make.

At a time when critical safety-net programs for food, housing, and heating are being cut, the church is seeing the human cost up close. As people of faith, we believe every person is created in the image of God and deserves to live with dignity. These rising costs fall heaviest on those with chronic health conditions and on our most vulnerable neighbors—people we pray with, serve alongside, and accompany in our ministries. Our call is clear: to stand with them, raise our voices, and insist on policies that protect life, promote justice, and ensure that no child of God is left behind.

Nationwide, more than 24 million Americans are enrolled in health coverage through Affordable Care Act marketplaces, making this open enrollment period particularly critical. 

Ensuring that Nevadans can access and afford quality health care remains a central priority for LEAN. We continue to advocate for policies that:

• Protect and extend affordable coverage by maintaining and expanding meaningful tax credits
• Prevent medical debt and strengthen consumer protections
• Lower the cost of prescription drugs
• Increase transparency in health care pricing
• Require accountability for hospitals and providers
• Ensure that hospital mergers do not reduce access or drive up costs for communities

We also want to hear from you. If rising health care costs or challenges accessing care are affecting you, your family, or your congregation, your stories strengthen our advocacy and help shape policy solutions grounded in real community needs. Please email us at paullarson@leanforjustice.org with HEALTH CARE in the subject line, and we will be in touch.

The ELCA Social Statement on Health Care reminds us that:
“Health is central to our well-being, vital to relationships, and helps us live out our vocations in family, work, and community… Caring for the health of others expresses both love for our neighbor and responsibility for a just society.”