In August, CoxHealth — the biggest health system in southwest Missouri — announced that its insurance arm, Cox HealthPlans, is quitting the Affordable Care Act marketplace starting in 2027. They’ll hand the business to a company called Oscar Health instead.
Let’s be clear about what that means for real people. Working families across eight southwest Missouri counties now have to shop for new plans, learn new networks, and pray their doctor is still covered. Cox already pulled its marketplace plans out of Greene and Webster counties for 2026.
And this didn’t happen in a vacuum. Congress let the enhanced premium tax credits — the thing keeping marketplace premiums affordable — expire on December 31, 2025. On December 11, the Senate killed a three-year extension, 51 to 48. My own congressman, Eric Burlison, said his take on extending the credits was “hell no” — his words. Senator Eric Schmitt voted no. Speaker Mike Johnson refused to even bring an extension to the floor, forcing a discharge petition just to get a vote. The House did pass an extension, 230 to 196, on January 8 — but the Senate let it die. Now premiums for subsidized enrollees have roughly doubled on average, according to KFF. This is what happens when politicians protect the boardroom instead of the waiting room.
Here’s what I believe, and I want every voter in the 7th District to hear it: no corporation should be able to yank your health insurance because the math stopped working for them — especially not the same corporation that runs your hospitals. Healthcare is not a stock portfolio. It’s people’s lives.
When I’m in Congress, I’ll fight for three things on this:
One — protect rural hospitals and maternity care. No more closures decided in boardrooms while families lose care.
Two — real price transparency and accountability for health systems.
Three — nobody loses coverage in the shuffle when an insurer walks away. There has to be a guaranteed landing place.
CoxHealth built an empire on the backs of southwest Missouri families. The least it can do is not abandon them.
I’m Alexander Heidenreich. I’m for the 99 — not the boardroom.
Paid for by Alexander J.S. Heidenreich for Congress.