Ready or not, you’re about to pay a lot more for your Obamacare health insurance unless Congress acts. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
Rep. Mark Pocan touched on the matter earlier this week when he outlined some of the many, many ways we’re paying more so billionaires can pay less taxes.
On Friday, the nonpartisan health policy analysts at KFF provided some hard data on the rise in Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) premiums. It’s not a pretty picture… unless you’re a billionaire.
The Washington Post calls it the highest premium increase in seven years. The Post reported on KFF’s findings:
Health insurers are proposing double-digit price hikes for plans sold through Affordable Care Act marketplaces, as extra federal subsidies for premiums expire at the end of the year and President Donald Trump’s tariffs threaten higher pharmaceutical prices.
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More than a quarter of the [marketplace] insurers are requesting premium increases of at least 20 percent. Last year, just 3 percent of insurers boosted premiums by that magnitude.
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Separate from premium hikes, people face rising costs because extra federal subsidies to purchase Affordable Care Act plans expire at the end of the year. The average person buying a marketplace plan would pay 75 percent more for their monthly premium if Congress doesn’t extend the subsidies, KFF said.
Yes, Congress can still extend the subsidies. Also, insurers could still walk the hikes back, but The Post indicated they usually follow through with their proposals for premium-hikes.
Who gets hurt the most in this Welfare for Billionaires scheme? Middle-income Americans, according to The Post. They earn “just enough to no longer be eligible for subsidies but not enough to afford the full premium, said Cynthia Cox, director of KFF’s Affordable Care Act program.”
On top of all that, the Republicans-for-billionaires in Congress also made stricter rules around marketplace enrollment and eligibility, The Post reported.
It’s yet another death-to-Americans plan from the “pro-life” set.
