The Price Tag To Help Make Health Insurance Affordable For Americans? Nearly $700 Billion A Year
In total, the federal subsidies to help Americans pay for coverage under the Affordable Care Act and other government programs are equivalent to about 3.4 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. Meanwhile, premiums are expected to rise an average of 15 percent next year and an additional three million will be uninsured, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Bloomberg:
It Costs $685 Billion A Year To Subsidize U.S. Health Insurance
It will cost the U.S. government almost $700 billion in subsidies this year help provide Americans under age 65 with health insurance through their jobs or in government-sponsored health programs, according to a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The subsidies come from four main categories. About $296 billion is federal spending on programs like Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which help insure low-income people. Almost as big are the tax write-offs that employers take for providing coverage to their workers. Medicare-eligible people, such as the disabled, account for $82 billion. Subsidies for Obamacare and for other individual coverage are the smallest segment, at $55 billion. (Ockerman, 5/23)
The Hill:
CBO: ObamaCare Premiums To Rise 15 Percent In 2019
ObamaCare premiums are expected to rise an average of 15 percent next year, an increase largely due to the GOP’s repeal of the law's individual mandate, according to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis released Wednesday. The CBO estimates that gutting the requirement that Americans have health insurance or face a tax penalty will contribute to about a 10 percent rise in premiums for 2019, with insurers expected to see healthier people dropping out of the marketplaces, leaving sicker enrollees on the plans. (Roubein, 5/23)
CQ:
CBO Projects Three Million More Uninsured People In 2019
An additional three million people will be uninsured next year largely because the requirement for most Americans to have health insurance coverage was effectively repealed, the Congressional Budget Office projected. A new report released Wednesday by the nonpartisan analysts estimates that premiums for benchmark plans sold on the marketplaces set up by the 2010 health care law (PL 111-148, PL 111-152) will increase an average of 15 percent next year. Still, the analysts expect the individual insurance market to be stable in most parts of the country in 2019. (McIntire, 5/23)
In other news related to the health law —
The Baltimore Sun:
Democrats Running For Maryland Governor Pledging To Support A State Individual Mandate For Health Care
The seven major Democrats running for Maryland governor have all signed a pledge to support a plan to shore up Obamacare if they are elected, health care advocates said Wednesday. Representatives from the campaigns are expected to announce their support for the plan at an 11 a.m. event Wednesday at the Episcopal Diocesan Center in Baltimore, according to Vincent DeMarco, president of Health Care for All. (Cox, 5/23)
