Cheaper health insurance changed their lives. Then it went away.

Derrick Clark and many diabetic patients in Mississippi previously relied on subsidized Affordable Care Act health insurance plans, but Congress allowed the enhanced subsidies to expire at the end of last year. This expiration, which affected over 200,000 Mississippians, has led to a significant fall in enrollment in ACA plans and increased risks for chronic diseases like diabetes. The temporary subsidies were originally designed by the American Rescue Plan Act and later extended through the Inflation Reduction Act.