Democratic elected leaders and health advocates gathered Monday in Chicago to highlight the impact of the Affordable Care Act —  signed by then President Barack Obama 16 years ago — while sounding the alarm on rising health care costs for Americans.

Experts warn that the number of people who have signed up for plans may still drop even further, as enrollees get their first bill in January and some choose to cancel.

Officials at Get Covered Illinois announced Monday they would extend the open enrollment deadline by 16 days. For coverage beginning Feb. 1, 2026, consumers must enroll by Jan. 31.

The enhanced tax credits that have helped reduce the cost of health insurance for the vast majority of Affordable Care Act enrollees expired at the end of 2025. More than 500,000 Illinoisans depended on these credits to make health coverage affordable, according to U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi.

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune will be forced to answer from some in their own party over whether to reassert the legislative branch’s role in war-making alongside critical votes on health care and government spending.

Four centrist Republicans broke with Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday and signed onto a Democratic-led petition that will force a House vote on extending for three years an enhanced pandemic-era subsidy that lowers health insurance costs for millions of Americans.

Officials said the extension is intended to give people more time to receive help choosing a plan for the upcoming year as changes in federal policy are about to take effect.

Senators rejected a Democratic bill to extend the subsidies for three years and a Republican alternative that would have created new health savings accounts — an unceremonious end to a monthslong effort by Democrats to prevent the COVID-19-era subsidies from expiring on Jan. 1.

If the extra subsidies expire, the premiums ACA enrollees pay will more than double on average, according to KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group.

Monthly premiums for 2026 plans are expected to be higher for those enrolling in ACA exchange plans because COVID-era subsidies are expiring.

About 4.8 million people are expected to lose their Affordable Care Act coverage in 2026 if Congress does not extend a set of enhanced subsidies created under the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. That includes about 100,000 people in Illinois.

The 6-3 ruling comes in a lawsuit over how the government decides which health care medications and services must be fully covered by private insurance under former President Barack Obama’s signature law, often referred to as Obamacare.

Earlier this year, the Biden administration announced plans to expand health care coverage to those enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. But the proposed change has yet to be finalized, leaving thousands of young adults who were brought to the U.S. as children in limbo.

The measures establish a state-based exchange for policies sold under the Affordable Care Act and give the Illinois Department of Insurance the authority to modify or reject proposed rate increases.

The findings come days after Democrats hammered out a 725-page climate, health care and tax deal that would extend generous federal subsidies for people who buy private health insurance that are credited with driving down the uninsured rates. Democrats have proposed spending $64 billion to extend those price breaks for three more years.

“The Affordable Care Act remains the law of the land,” President Joe Biden, said, celebrating the ruling. The justices, by a 7-2 vote, left the entire Affordable Care Act intact in ruling that Texas, other GOP-led states and two individuals had no right to bring their lawsuit in federal court.