ACA Marketplace Premium Payments Would More than Double on Average Next Year if Enhanced Premium Tax Credits Expire

[douglas9]

Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits are set to expire at the end of this year. Enhanced premium tax credits were introduced in 2021 and later extended through the end of 2025 by the Inflation Reduction Act. The enhanced tax credits both increased the amount of financial assistance already eligible ACA Marketplace enrollees received as well as made middle-income enrollees with income above 400% of federal poverty guidelines newly eligible for premium tax credits.

Since the introduction of the enhanced premium tax credits, enrollment in the Marketplace has more than doubled from about 11 to over 24 million people, the vast majority of whom receive an enhanced premium tax credit. If enhanced tax credits expire, many Marketplace enrollees will continue to qualify for a smaller tax credit, while others will lose eligibility altogether and be hit by a “double whammy” of losing their entire tax credit and being on the hook for rising premiums.

Since 2014, the ACA has capped how much subsidized enrollees pay for their health insurance premiums at a certain percent of their income, on a sliding scale, with the federal government covering the remainder in the form of a tax credit. Enhanced tax credits work by further lowering the share of income ACA Marketplace enrollees pay for a plan. For example, with the enhanced tax credits in place, an individual making $28,000 will pay no more than around 1% ($325) of their annual income towards a benchmark plan. If the enhanced tax credits expire, this same individual would pay nearly 6% of their income ($1,562 annually) towards a benchmark plan in 2026. In other words, if the enhanced tax credits expire, this individual would experience an increase of $1,238 in their annual premium payments net of the tax credit.

https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/aca-marketplace-premium-payments-would-more-than-double-on-average-next-year-if-enhanced-premium-tax-credits-expire/

[RT Atlanta]

1. they want us to be sick and deeply in debt...

"don't get sick, but if you do, get sick and die in a hurry" (paraphrasing Allan Grayson)

[Rhiannon12866]

11. Who used to post right here on DU!

[TheFarseer]

2. And

You would still be required by law to have coverage unless something changed.

[subterranean]

6. You're not required by law to have coverage.

There’s no legal or financial penalty for not having it. So many people will have to drop their coverage when it becomes unaffordable.

[TheFarseer]

8. My mistake

That requirement was eliminated in 2019.

[MichMan]

3. Why was there an expiration date written into the legislation when it was passed?

Congress had to know what would happen when it was scheduled to expire.

[leftstreet]

9. +1

[dalton99a]

4. Republicans want Americans to suffer, go bankrupt and die

[Autumn]

5. An expiration date on any legislation like that is a built in weapon to be used

against the American people.

[superpatriotman]

7. We had the chance in 2021

But the moderates voiced concerns about the cost and scope of permanently expanding the ACA. Their reservations contributed to the decision not to pursue permanent codification at that time.

[SunSeeker]

10. What this means is people will DIE because they can't afford health insurance.

Before the ACA, 45,000 Americans died every year because they didn't have health insurance. They didn't go to their annual exams, cancers were not caught early when it was treatable, blood pressure medication was not prescribed to prevent strokes, people did not get flu/pneumonia shots and died of pneumonia, and people died of numerous other preventable deaths, because they could not access a simple family doctor. They would end up in an ER after it was too late.