Healthcare Subsides Expire, Trump and Minnesota, Mamdani Takes Office In NYC

0:00Hey, Michelle, it feels like 2026. It feels like the continuation of a long 2025. But happy new year to you. You too. You too, Mishan. Now, very quick, before we start the show, we want to say a big thanks to everyone who donated during NPR's end-of-year fundraising campaign. Yes, and thank you also to our NPR Plus supporters. Yeah, public radio is yours. And thanks to you, we're starting the new year strong, even as the NPR network enters its first full year without federal funding for public media. Thank you again for your continued support moving into 2026 and beyond. 2025 is gone, and so are pandemic-era subsidies for people who rely on the Affordable Care Act.

0:43That means higher monthly bills for millions of people and tough choices about health insurance coverage. I'm Michelle Martin. That's A. Martinez. And this is Up First from NPR News.

0:55The Trump administration froze federal child care funding after a right-wing influencer went viral, accusing Somali-run daycares of fraud. Providers are warning the impact could be immediate. Many of the families at my center are one paycheck away from becoming homeless. I'm not exaggerating. What are the politics behind the White House move? And New York City has a new mayor. Zoran Mamdani was sworn in just after midnight in a historic subway station. What's next on his agenda? Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

1:33Hello and Happy New Year. It's Michelle Martin from Morning Edition. Thank you to everyone who donated during our end-of-year fundraising campaign. 2025 dealt a big blow to NPR and local stations with the loss of federal funding for public media, but we are so heartened by the outpouring of support, and we will get through this together. Thank you for keeping NPR strong, moving into 2026 and beyond. Are you thinking about making any changes in the new year? The Life Kit Podcast is here to help. In each episode, we have research-backed strategies and expert advice on everything from meal prep to strengthening relationships to paying down your credit card debt.

2:12Make your resolutions stick. Listen to The Life Kit Podcast on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

2:23What's in store for the music, TV and film industries for 2026? We don't know. But we're making some fun, bold predictions for the new year, plus setting some personal pop culture resolutions. Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Health insurance is way more expensive this year for millions of Americans who purchased coverage through the Affordable Care Act. Many people get government subsidies to help pay their monthly premium for that insurance. During the COVID pandemic, Congress created additional subsidies to help keep coverage affordable. But those additional subsidies expired last night, and now consumers face a hard choice.

3:03On average, premiums for those marketplace plans are more than twice as high compared to 2025. Health reporter Sarah Bowden joins us now to discuss what comes next. So Sarah, higher premiums, what's enrollment looking like so far? Yeah, so preliminary data from December show that enrollment is down a bit compared to last December, but overall, it is higher than expected. I spoke with Cynthia Cox at the health policy think tank KFF, and she says that all of us need to realize that these numbers will probably change. This is kind of like the difference between putting groceries in your shopping cart and actually purchasing them.

3:42So you don't actually own those groceries until you've paid for them. the same thing with health insurance. You can sign up, you can pick a plan, but until you pay for it, it's not your health plan. So what she's watching for is how many people will keep their coverage. And a lot of people were automatically re-enrolled in the same policy, but now have a higher premium, but they might not know that yet. So sticker shock is coming. It's estimated that 4.8 million people will drop their coverage because they can't pay for it. Yeah, and health care costs are a big political issue right now. I mean, it is an election year after all.

4:18So, I mean, is there any chance that this could change? You know, there is some discussion between Democrats and moderate Republicans to extend the subsidies. And if they did, they could make them retroactive. But many Republicans won't vote for it without getting something in return. For example, Republicans have suggested that people should set up health savings accounts to save up for emergencies. Others said they'd potentially support extending the subsidies in exchange for new restrictions on abortion. But these ideas have not gotten very far at all. And even if a compromise got through the House, the Senate would be tougher.

4:57Yeah, you know, looking at the numbers, Sarah, 24 million Americans get their plans through the marketplace. I mean, so what are their options if they can't afford the new premium but don't want to be uninsured. The first step, if you haven't already, is go and see exactly how much you're set up to pay this year because if you don't like that number, you probably still have time to switch policies. In most states, the final deadline to sign up for a plan for 2026 is January 15. That coverage would start in February. I've spoken with people who have chosen plans with lower premiums, but higher out-of-pocket costs.

5:35So for instance, a deductible of$7 ,000 or$8 ,000. Oh man, that's a big ouch. That'll hurt. It's a lot of money, but it can be an okay option for people who are healthy and don't go to the doctor too much. It's a gamble. Yeah, absolutely. That's health reporter Sarah Bowden. Sarah, thank you very much for joining us. Thanks for having me.

6:01The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says it's freezing federal funding meant to help low-income families pay for child care. The move comes just days after the Trump administration singled out Minnesota following a video from a conservative influencer going viral. The influencer claimed without evidence that daycare centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis had committed up to$100 million in fraud. Minnesota Public Radio's Clay Masters joins us now from St. Paul. Clay, back in the Biden administration, federal prosecutors launched major fraud cases against mostly Somali-American defendants, and there are state investigations as well.

6:36So what's new with what's going on now? Yeah, I mean, we've been covering those criminal cases, not just about daycare facilities, but also fraud tied to Medicaid, cases that have led to convictions. But this latest move from the Trump administration started over the Christmas holiday when an online influencer with ties to the MAGA world alleged that several daycare centers run by Somali immigrants were taking public money without providing care. The man can be seen going up to various centers, knocking on doors and asking to see the children that go to the daycare centers. It was posted on the social media site X and then reposted by the likes of Vice President J.D.

7:14Vance, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. It also comes following racist comments from President Donald Trump accusing Somali communities here in Minnesota of widespread fraud. He called them, quote, garbage and talked about deporting Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who is a U.S. citizen. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has already ramped up its presence in the Twin Cities through the month of December as well. Okay, now the Trump administration's response was to withhold child care funding in all states for some people. So what does that mean? I mean, it could be really bad news for families with kids.

7:49This applies to the Child Care and Development Fund, which provides monthly child care subsidies to low-income families. Nationwide, approximately 1.4 million children and over 857 ,000 families per month received child care assistance in 2019. Now, 2019, that's the latest information on the government website. In Minnesota, where I am, 23 ,000 children use the child care assistance program each month. Here's Maria Snyder, a St. Paul child care director at a press conference yesterday. Many of the families at my center are one paycheck away from becoming homeless. I'm not exaggerating. If child care assistance is turned off, children can't come to care.

8:31And a spokesman for Health and Human Services says the agency could unfreeze funding after state agencies provide certain quote-unquote administrative data. The deputy secretary said that could include receipts and photo evidence. Meanwhile, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says his office is exploring all legal options to ensure that critical child care services do not get abruptly slashed based on what he calls pretext and grandstanding. Okay. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is the former Democratic vice presidential candidate. How does he fit into all this? Well, yeah, I mean, this is all definitely political, too.

9:06Governor Walz announced he's running for a third term this new year, and this is the issue he is likely most vulnerable on. He has a lot of Republican challengers, including Minnesota's Republican Speaker of the House, Lisa Dameth. Dameth told reporters this week that her House caucus steered the YouTuber to the daycare sites in Minnesota. In a statement after the child care funding freeze, a spokesman for Governor Walz said he's been combating fraud for years while the president has been letting fraudsters out of jail. The statement goes on to say fraud is a serious issue, but this is a transparent attempt to politicize the issue, to hurt Minnesotans and defund government programs that help people.

9:43So I don't expect this to quiet down anytime soon here in Minnesota in this election year where Republicans think they have a shot at the state's top job. In fact, next week, the Republican-led House Committee on Oversight and Government will hear from Republican state lawmakers here, and they have invited Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison to attend as well. That's Clay Masters of Minnesota Public Radio. Thanks, Clay. My pleasure.

10:15New York City has a new mayor. Just after midnight, Zoran Mamdani was formally sworn in at a small private ceremony held underground at an historic subway station. New York State Attorney General Letitia James conducted the oath. So help me God. Congratulations, Mr. Mayor. This was just the first event for Mamdani's historic inauguration. Member station WNYC's Bridget Bergen will be covering the events later today. joins us now with a preview. So, okay, public inauguration this afternoon. And really, he was one of the biggest stories in 2025. But for people that are just catching up, tell us about Zoran Mamdani.

10:52Yeah, you're right. It's a historic day. But at 34 years old, Mamdani is the youngest mayor of New York City, really in the modern era. He's the first Muslim mayor. He's an immigrant New Yorker. His parents are both from India, but he spent the early part of his childhood in Uganda before his family moved to New York City. And really, politically, Mamdani represents a shift from his predecessor, Eric Adams, who was a far more conservative Democrat. Yeah, let's get into that shift because Mamdani is not just a Democrat. He's a Democratic Socialist. So how might that affect his priorities? So Mamdani is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA.

11:30He calls the group his political home. It's a membership organization with chapters across the country. It's not a political party. It helped inform his campaign platform, things like making buses fast and free and providing universal child care. The group also helped him recruit thousands of volunteers for his winning campaign. Among those he defeated was outgoing Mayor Adams, who is leaving office under a bit of a cloud. He faced federal corruption charges that were dismissed at the direction of President Trump's Justice Department earlier this year. Mamdani has included some of the most prominent national figures with ties to the DSA in today's ceremony.

12:09Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will deliver opening remarks, and then Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders will conduct the public swearing in. So DSA all-stars, essentially, right? Yeah. That's right. Yeah, he was known for cultivating really enormous grassroots support for his campaign. So can any New Yorker just show up at today's events? Well, there will be several thousand people at a ticketed event outside City Hall, which for anyone who's visited New York sits just on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge. But there also is going to be this huge block party with tens of thousands more people that's going to span several blocks along Broadway where people will be able to watch a live feed of the ceremony and really be part of the celebration.

12:54It's going to be on a part of the street known as the Canyon of Heroes, where you might see a ticker tape parade, like when the New York Liberty became WNBA champions in 2024. Space is still limited, though, so people needed to RSVP to get into that area. And really, no matter where you're watching, if you're going to be outside, it's going to be time to bundle up. The actual temperature will be about 26 degrees at the time of the ceremony. But with the wind, it's going to feel like about 12. That's why I live in Los Angeles. Good luck staying warm out there. That was WNYC's Bridget Bergen in New York.

13:28Thanks a lot. Thank you.

13:33And that's up first for Thursday, January 1st. Happy New Year. I'm E. Martinez. And I'm Michelle Martin. Up first gets you caught up, and Morning Edition takes you deeper. We are live every morning on your local NPR station with reporting, interviews, and the context behind the headlines. And if you want to listen in the afternoon, you can do that, too. Download the NPR app and listen anytime. There's so many options to get you the news you need to start your day. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Carrie Fibel, Cheryl Corley, Andrea DeLeon, Mohamed El-Bardisi, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziyad Butch, Katie Kline, and Christopher Thomas.

14:07We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. Our technical director is David Greenberg. Our deputy executive producer is Kelly Dickens. Join us again tomorrow.

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15:00This week on Trump's terms, a special report five years in the making. I've got a president that pardoned all the people that assaulted me. January 6th, why the story isn't over. I get death threats every single day. We're still living in the midst of my trauma. Listen to a special report on January 6th from NPR's investigations team. This week on the Trump's Terms podcast from NPR.