I remember the knot in my stomach when I had to tell one of my best workers at Miramar Group that we might not be able to keep offering affordable health coverage. He’s been with me for years — reliable, hardworking, with two kids. The look on his face said everything: Without decent health insurance, his family is one accident away from financial ruin.

That conversation haunts me because I know it’s happening across Illinois right now. Families are opening their 2026 insurance renewal letters, and the numbers are devastating. This isn’t an abstract policy debate in Washington — it’s about real people in my community who are about to lose something they desperately need.

Since 2021, enhanced premium tax credits have been the difference between having health insurance and going without for more than 350,000 people in Illinois. Over 105,000 of them are like me — entrepreneurs and self-employed workers trying to build something. But these tax credits expire at the end of the year, and Congress is stuck in gridlock while the clock runs out.

Let me put faces to these numbers. That 60-year-old couple down the street who finally started their own consulting business will pay $17,000 more per year for coverage. The young family of four running the taqueria where I grab lunch makes $64,000 a year and just learned their premiums are going up nearly $2,600. How do you absorb that when you’re already stretching every dollar?

Here’s what really gets me: Washington just passed new tax cuts, and politicians are celebrating. But for a typical Illinois family earning $80,000, losing these health care tax credits means they’ll end up $1,200 worse off, even with the tax cut. The premium hike wipes out any relief. That’s not progress; that’s moving backward.

And the ripple effects will devastate our communities. Illinois could lose nearly 1,900 jobs and more than $240 million from our economy. Those aren’t just statistics — they’re livelihoods and dreams deferred.

I’ve watched Latino entrepreneurship explode over the past five years. Between 2019 and 2024, the number of Hispanic self-employed workers grew by 30% nationwide. People took the leap to start their own businesses because they finally had the security of knowing their families were covered. Take that away, and we’re not just hurting families today; we’re crushing the entrepreneurial spirit that drives our local economies.

At Miramar Group, health coverage isn’t a perk — it’s how I keep good people and compete with big companies. When my team knows their families are covered, they show up with focus and loyalty. Without these tax credits, I don’t know how small businesses like mine survive. We operate on margins so thin that one bad break can shut us down.

This crisis is already unfolding. My phone rings with calls from business owners asking what to do. I see the worry on people’s faces at chamber meetings. Families are receiving their 2026 renewal notices, and they’re terrified. They ask: How do we pay this? Should we just drop our coverage? What happens if someone gets sick?

Congress needs to stop playing politics with people’s lives. Every day they delay extending these tax credits is another day working families and small businesses fall further behind. No one should have to choose between paying for health insurance, putting food on the table or keeping their business afloat.

The solution is clear: Extend the enhanced premium tax credits now. Not next month, not after more negotiations. Our families, workers and communities can’t wait any longer.

We built something in this country on the promise that if you work hard, you can take care of your family. Letting these tax credits expire breaks that promise.

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Juan Ochoa is president of the National Federation of Latino Chambers of Commerce and Associations and president and CEO of the Miramar Group, a facilities management company based in Illinois.

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