Congress is approaching its year-end recess and members are still struggling over health care coverage for millions of Americans.
It’s a debate that has a deep impact here in Hawaiʻi. If subsidies under the Affordable Care Act expire at the end of the year as expected, that will leave tens of thousands of Hawaiʻi residents with dramatically higher insurance costs and will also affect rural health care across the state.
Gov. Josh Green has a plan. It involves using $16.5 million in state money to plug that gap and continue those subsidies in the short term. The Conversation spoke to him about health care, tax cuts, and military land leases.
Interview highlights
On $16.5 million budget to cover subsidies under the ACA
GOV. JOSH GREEN: We put that line item budget of $16.5 million in to basically cover or replace what the enhanced subsidies would have been, should they act in Congress and cover the Affordable Care Act needs. I think the Legislature will likely support this. Supporting the Affordable Care Act is not just about supporting the people who are in the plan. It's also about making sure that our rural hospitals don't suddenly lose a lot of resources, that they don't have extra pressure across the system, and close. That's what's going to happen nationally, our 24,000 individuals that are somehow affected one way or another by changes to the Affordable Care Act are actually 4 million people on the mainland, just to give you an idea. And states all across the country really should follow our lead, if they can, and do this. So I think the (Legislature) will go along with it. We have the resources. It's a tight year because what happened at the federal level was all the tariffs and the shutdown and the many things that have happened by decreasing our funding has basically cost us $3 billion. But we had saved, and I had line-item vetoed in the past, $1 billion so we're OK, but I think we have to do it.
On tax breaks
GREEN: The word is pause in this case, so not roll back technically. So we signed a tax plan, which was about a $5.5 billion tax break for our state. Because of the $3 billion that came out of our economy, the third year is going to come to a close after 2026, and then we have three other years in place for the tax break, '27, '28 and '29. Those years, we will pause any further deep cuts. So we've already locked in over $4 billion of the tax break. What we will do is, we will bring $1.8 billion back into our economy, back into the state, so we don't have to cut any jobs, won't have to cut any programs, and then I will reinject $600 million in tax breaks or tax support to those who are most vulnerable, so that we have extra food tax credits. So essentially, I'm going to pull back $1.2 billion of that $5.5 billion initial tax package, so the people that will not get as much tax break in '27, '28 and '29 will be more affluent people. … So again, I'll say it simply. We passed a six-year plan that would have brought $5.5 billion of tax breaks to people. It's going to end up being closer to $4 billion, but we're going to maintain all of the tax breaks for people who are working families.
On the latest talks on military leases
GREEN: That was good news. That was what we wanted, which was for them not to do the NDAA, that's the National Defense Authorization Act. We did not want that language passed, where they could move towards taking our lands this year. This gives us time to discuss it further. I have an excellent committee and advisory committee to give me updates. I think the updates will be quarterly, directly to me, and they'll be meeting monthly with the community to make sure that we're all on the same page. And that is helpful also, it's been pointed out very clearly to me by some of our own military leaders that we should be getting more investment anyway. Before this discussion is finalized about military lands, there's a lot more that should be done from the federal government, for our state, because of our our presence in the Pacific. The Indo-Pacific makes up 60% of our military operations globally, and so Hawaiʻi, which is at the epicenter of that, needs more support, because we do things like have our hospitals available to everybody. We rent houses out to everyone who comes through in service with the military. We do so many things, and this is being kind of re-discussed because a lot of those leases were like for $1, which was just done as a kind of contractual and a terrible idea, contractual obligation. And we, of course, get investment from the military, but it's time that we rethink this. And I think just come to common ground. I think that it's pretty clear that most people feel that the military is here for the good of the country and for national security, and most people also feel it has a very serious impact. So, because they will have to wait until next December to pass the next NDAA, we have a lot of time now for me to continue to go to Washington when needed to send my Cabinet there to get input from our advisory council on what should actually be done. … We would like Mākua Valley to come fully back to Hawaiʻi, and we would like local companies to be able to clean up the munitions. These were things that I have been and will continue to discuss with all the leadership in the country.
This story aired on The Conversation on Dec. 18, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Hannah Kaʻiulani Coburn adapted this interview for the web.
