Dr. Tina Shah’s Message for Tom Kean Jr.’s Attempt to Save Face on Healthcare: Too Little, Too Late

ACA premium tax credits already expired thanks to Tom Kean Jr., and NJ-07 voters won’t forget it. 

Westfield, NJ — Yesterday, Democrats in the House of Representatives led the passage of a bill to extend the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits. Because of Tom Kean Jr. and Congressional Republicans’ failure to act in 2025, these tax credits expired on January 1, 2026, leaving New Jerseyans to face healthcare premiums that cost 174% more this year than last. After allowing these tax credits to expire and drive up healthcare costs for his constituents, Tom Kean Jr. flipped to vote with Democrats last night.

“I’ve got one message for Tom Kean Jr.: too little, too late,” said Dr. Tina Shah. “Tom Kean Jr. has had multiple opportunities to lower healthcare costs for hardworking New Jerseyans and has refused every time. He voted for the bill that allowed these credits to expire in the first place, he voted for the largest cuts to Medicaid in American history, and he allowed New Jersey to come in dead last in federal rural healthcare funding. He can’t run from his record and NJ-07 voters will remember this in November.”

With the rise in healthcare costs contributing heavily to the cost of living crisis in NJ-07 and across the country, NJ-07 deserves a representative who has already delivered on lowering healthcare costs. As a private citizen, Dr. Shah led a grassroots effort in 2023 and 2024 to ensure passage of a prior authorization reform bill in New Jersey, which ensured that NJ-regulated health insurance companies could not deny essential medical coverage. When elected to represent NJ-07, she’ll do the same in Washington.

About Dr. Tina Shah:

Dr. Tina Shah is an intensive care doctor who has spent her career fighting for her patients and to improve the quality of care in New Jersey and across the country. A triple board-certified physician, Tina has cared for patients at their most vulnerable and seen firsthand how rising costs, insurance denials, and political dysfunction put lives at risk. Instead of accepting the broken healthcare system, Tina got to work to fix it from both the public and private sectors. She served under three presidential administrations, developing innovative strategies to expand access to healthcare to veterans and leading the first federal plan to combat the burnout that drove doctors and nurses out of the field. In New Jersey, she successfully fought for legislation that stopped insurance companies from denying care. As Chief Medical Officer of an AI healthcare company, she also led efforts to cut red tape for doctors and nurses, freeing them to focus on patients and outcomes instead of paperwork. Today, Tina is running for Congress to restore sanity and science in Washington and deliver the stable, compassionate leadership New Jersey’s 7th District deserves.

To learn more about Tina and join the campaign, visit www.drtinashahforcongress.com. 

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