Obamacare Prices Become Public, Highlighting Big Increases
“Obamacare plan prices for next year have been released, showing significant increases, particularly in states managed by the federal government. The expiration of enhanced subsidies at the end of the year, unless extended by Congress, will further impact costs for over 20 million Americans.
The government website now shows consumers how much their health insurance costs will increase next year, as Congress remains at an impasse over the plans’ subsidies.
The Trump administration has released a preview of the available plans sold through Obamacare marketplaces in 30 states, giving Americans who buy their own health insurance a first look at just how much prices would go up.
Insurers have increased rates significantly for next year — an average of about 30 percent for a typical plan in the 30 states where the federal government manages markets, and an average of 17 percent in states that run their own markets, according to a new analysis from KFF, the health research group.
But the biggest impact for nearly all Americans covered by Obamacare plans will occur with the expiration of generous subsidies at the end of the year unless Congress extends them. Prices on the government’s website, healthcare.gov, reflect that change using calculations based on a return to the lower subsidy levels offered before 2021.
The extra funding helped make insurance effectively free for poorer Americans and offered financial help for the first time for people earning more than four times the federal poverty level, or about $64,000 for a single person. If the funding expires, costs will go up for more than 20 million Americans who currently buy their own insurance in the marketplaces established under the Affordable Care Act. Most customers will still qualify for federal help, but at a lower level established under the original program.
The looming expiration of those subsidies has been a key sticking point in congressional wrangling over the government shutdown, which has lasted nearly a month. Democrats have demanded an extension of the subsidies as a condition of supporting legislation funding the entire government. Republican leaders say they will not discuss the issue until the government is reopened.
About 27 million Americans are uninsured. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the expiring subsidies will add two million more people to that total next year, and other analyses have estimated even larger reductions in coverage.”
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