Politics
Obamacare Enrollment by State: Most Enrollees Live in Republican Areas
More than 23 million Americans are currently enrolled in Obamacare plans, and nearly all of them will face higher health care costs next year if extra federal funding for subsidies expires, as scheduled, on Dec. 31.
Share of population enrolled in Obamacare plans
Democrats in Congress are withholding their votes on a government spending bill to demand that Republicans extend these subsidies, which lower the cost of insurance for people who buy their own health care coverage in marketplaces established by the Affordable Care Act. Since Congress introduced the extra funding in 2021, enrollment has doubled.
These Americans live nearly everywhere in the country, but their numbers are especially concentrated in a handful of red states whose governments have declined to expand Medicaid programs to cover poor, childless adults.
Fifty-seven percent of people with this type of insurance live in Republican congressional districts.
Obamacare enrollment rates, by congressional district
Districts represented by Democrats
Districts represented by Republicans
The difference is driven by extra enrollment in states that hadn’t expanded Medicaid since the Affordable Care Act encouraged states to do so in 2014. Obamacare was designed to cover the poorest Americans with Medicaid and then offer subsidies for people who earned more. There is a small share of the income distribution that overlaps; those people are eligible for Medicaid where it is available, and subsidies where it is not. As a result, more low-income Americans are eligible for subsidies in states that don’t offer Medicaid to all poor adults.
Since subsidies became more generous in 2021, overall enrollment has more than tripled in six red states: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia and West Virginia. Of that group, only West Virginia expanded Medicaid.
Obamacare coverage has become especially widespread in south Florida, where there is a large concentration of low-wage workers and early retirees.
Most of the congressional districts with the highest enrollments are in states that Trump won in the presidential election, but not all are represented by Republicans in Congress.
Districts with the highest Obamacare enrollment rates
Americans with relatively low incomes make up the largest group of enrollees by far. Nearly half of consumers nationwide earn less than 150 percent of the federal poverty level, around $24,000 for a single person in most states or around $48,000 for a family of four. These people tend to work in low-wage jobs that don’t offer health insurance, have part-time employment, or are freelancers who work gig jobs.
The extra subsidies are especially generous for this group. As long as they choose one of the two lowest-cost plans in their market, they don’t have to make any monthly payments for their premiums. Critics of the subsidies think these are so generous for this group that they have invited fraud. If the subsidies expire, the share of premiums for this group will go up to around $27 to $82 a month.
Individuals: $15,650–$23,475 Household of four: $32,150–$48,225
45%
10.9 million people Individuals: $23,475–$31,300
Household of four: $48,225–$64,300
18%
4.3 million
Individuals: $31,300–$39,125
Household of four: $64,300–$80,375
10%
2.5 million
Individuals: $39,125–$46,950
Household of four: $80,375–$96,450
7%
1.7 million
Individuals: $46,950–$62,600
Household of four: $96,450–$128,600
7%
1.8 million
Individuals: $62,600–$78,250 Household of four: $128,600–$160,750
3%
724,961 Individuals: $78,250 or above
Household of four: $160,750 or above
4%
911,808
Obamacare enrollment, by income range
Income range
Share
100–150% of federal poverty level
150–200%
200–250%
250–300%
300–400%
400–500%
500% or above
Americans who earn more than 400 percent of the poverty level, around $63,000 for a single person in most states or $129,000 for a family of four, make up a much smaller share of the market, around 7 percent. This group tends to include people who are self-employed or who work for small businesses, and early retirees — all of whom lack work-based options.
In dollar terms, the expiring subsidies will make the biggest difference for this group. With the extra subsidies, their payments are capped at 8.5 percent of their income. Without action, they will have to pay the full cost of their insurance next year, more than $2,000 a month for older people in the most expensive markets.
Some conservative critics of the extra subsidies argue this group earns enough that they should be expected to pay their insurance premiums without help.
Without the extra subsidies, analysts expect that millions of Americans enrolled in Obamacare will drop their insurance coverage or face higher prices. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that around two million more people will become uninsured next year without the extra financial help, and the number could rise to 3.8 million by 2035. Other analyses have estimated even larger reductions in coverage.
Exactly who will become uninsured is difficult to know. But Cynthia Cox, a vice president at KFF, a health care research group, said the losses were most likely to occur in the places where signups had risen the most since the extra subsidies became law in 2021.
Change in enrollment from 2020 to 2025
State
Change in enrollment
2025 total
Margin
Tex.
+255%
4 million
R+14
Miss.
+242%
338,159
R+23
W.Va.
+235%
67,113
R+42
La.
+234%
292,994
R+22
Ga.
+228%
1.5 million
R+2
Tenn.
+221%
642,867
R+30
Ala.
+198%
477,838
R+31
Ohio
+197%
583,443
R+11
S.C.
+195%
631,948
R+18
Ariz.
+177%
423,025
R+6
Ark.
+159%
166,639
R+31
Ind.
+155%
359,240
R+19
Iowa
+151%
136,833
R+13
Fla.
+147%
4.7 million
R+13
Kan.
+133%
200,046
R+16
By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Gilad Thaler, Jon Miller, Stephanie Swart, Rafaela Balster, Whitney Shefte and Nikolay Nikolov
May 29, 2026
Politics
Federal judge orders Trump’s name removed from Kennedy Center, says only Congress can rename it
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A federal judge on Friday ordered that President Donald Trump’s name be removed from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee, said the iconic venue cannot be renamed without an act of Congress, ruling that the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees overstepped its “statutory bounds by unilaterally renaming” the building.
As part of his ruling, the Trump administration will be required to take down all physical signage bearing Trump’s name and eliminate any references to a “Trump-Kennedy Center” from official materials.
TRUMP KENNEDY CENTER’S BOARD VOTES UNANIMOUSLY TO APPROVE $257M RENOVATIONS AND TWO-YEAR CLOSURE
A sign is displayed on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts building. (Getty Images)
“The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so,” Cooper wrote. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”
Roma Daravi, the Trump Kennedy Center vice president of public relations, said the board plans to appeal the decision.
“We will review the decision carefully though the reality remains — the Center requires an urgent and significant restoration – a truth that even the plaintiff acknowledges,” Daravi said. “With $257 million secured by President Trump and approved by Congress, the resources are in place and we remain committed to pursuing every lawful avenue to ensure the Trump Kennedy Center is restored as a national cultural landmark for all Americans to enjoy.”
The ruling was part of a lawsuit filed by U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
BOARD VOTES KENNEDY CENTER TO BE RENAMED ‘TRUMP-KENNEDY CENTER,’ LEAVITT SAYS
President Donald Trump stands in the presidential box during a tour of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on March 17, 2025. On Friday, a federal judge ruled that Trump’s name must be removed from he iconic venue. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
Cooper previously denied a request for a preliminary injunction filed by a preservation group to block the planned two-year closure of the Kennedy Center for a rehabilitation project.
Trump secured $257 million from Congress as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to address disrepair and deferred maintenance of the Kennedy Center, which critics say has been neglected and mismanaged before Trump intervened.
The funds appropriated by Congress are spent on maintenance, repairs, security, and capital projects related to the building and site.
Beatty, who serves as an ex officio member of the board, praised Friday’s ruling.
“Today’s ruling rightly affirms that this administration’s efforts to rename and close the Center have no basis in law,” Beatty said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. “The Kennedy Center is an institution that belongs to the American people, not to Donald Trump. He has desecrated this sacred memorial for his own vanity. I am proud to have fought for the rule of law and to protect this sacred institution.”
Workers install Donald J. Trump signage above the existing Kennedy Center sign in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 19, 2025. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
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Trump’s name was added to the venue last December following a unanimous decision by the board. In February 2025, Trump was elected chairman of the Kennedy Center board after removing 18 trustees appointed by former President Joe Biden.
WASHINGTON — A framework agreement to end the U.S. war with Iran is all but settled, pending sign-off from the presidents of the two warring sides, President Trump said Friday, projecting optimism that a deal could finally be at hand.
Yet doubt cast a shadow over the diplomatic process entering the weekend as Trump faced a politically fraught decision to enter an agreement that would invariably require significant concessions to Tehran.
The negotiations have faced severe headwinds in recent days, with both sides accusing the other of violating a fragile ceasefire that has largely stopped the fighting since April.
On his Truth Social site, Trump said he had summoned his top aides to the White House Situation Room to decide on the deal.
The agreement would see an end to the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports and the removal of Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz, an international waterway through which 20% of the world’s energy supply passes each day. The strait, Trump wrote, will reopen with “no tolls” for “unrestricted shipping traffic, in both directions.”
And “Iran must agree that they will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb,” Trump wrote, noting that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, the key ingredient for nuclear weapons, “will be unearthed by the United States (which, it is agreed, is the only Country, along with China, with the mechanical capability of doing so!), in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED.”
“No money will be exchanged, until further notice,” he added.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said the deal would require Iran to disavow the continuation of its domestic nuclear program — a diplomatic feat never before achieved throughout a quarter-century of international negotiations over Iran’s nuclear work.
It is unclear whether Tehran would go that far. And Iran’s negotiators expressed defiance on Friday, stating that there was “no trust in guarantees or words” from the American side.
“No step will be taken before the other side acts first,” said Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament. “We do not gain concessions through dialogue, but through missiles.”
It remains unclear when the Trump administration would ease sanctions on Iran, how extensive that relief would be, or what form it would take — questions that fueled Republican criticism of the Obama-era nuclear deal more than a decade ago.
The working diplomatic document would formally extend the existing ceasefire for 60 days, allowing for a more detailed negotiation to take place over Iran’s nuclear program. But the truce as it currently stands is on perilous ground. Iran launched a ballistic missile on Thursday at Kuwait, a close U.S. ally, after American forces took “defensive” actions against Iranian missile launchers and mine-laying boats it had launched in the strait.
The war has proved historically unpopular with the American public, and has seen oil prices soar since the U.S. military, in partnership with Israel, launched its first strikes against Iran in February.
Bessent said he is hopeful that oil prices would drop quickly once an agreement is signed. But industry analysts say the effects of the war on the oil market could last for months, if not years, with the stability of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz now in question for commercial shippers.
While oil has dropped to under $100 a barrel, markets appeared skittish on Friday over the prospects for a deal, with mixed messages appearing to emerge out of the region.
It is also unclear whether a U.S. agreement with Iran would in any way bind Israel’s hands in its military operations, either in Iran or in Lebanon, where an Iranian proxy militia, Hezbollah, has vowed to keep up the fight.
Israel has ramped up strikes against Hezbollah targets in recent days, jeopardizing a delicate ceasefire negotiated with the Lebanese government, a deal encouraged by the Trump administration in order to grease the wheels for its talks with Tehran.
Trump has been uncharacteristically silent on the prospects of an agreement in recent days, expressing cautious optimism in limited exchanges with reporters.
“It’s hard to say exactly when or if the president’s going to sign,” Vice President JD Vance, who has led the U.S. diplomatic team, told reporters, noting that “the nuclear stuff” is still subject to negotiation. “We’re going back and forth on a couple of language points.”
“I do think that we’ve made a lot of progress here,” Vance added. “Hopefully we’ll continue to make progress, and the president will be in a position where he can endorse the agreement. But obviously, that’s still TBD.”
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