Summary
Health insurance premiums for plans bought through Healthcare.gov or state marketplaces are expected to increase by 75% next year. This rise is mainly because the extra financial help people received during the COVID-19 pandemic, which made these plans cheaper, is ending.
Key Facts
- Health insurance premiums for Affordable Care Act plans will rise by 75% on average next year.
- The extra help, called enhanced premium tax credits, started during the pandemic and is ending.
- About 24 million people are currently enrolled in these plans, a record high.
- The higher premiums could lead to 4.2 million more people becoming uninsured, as predicted by the Congressional Budget Office.
- Less healthy people may remain in the insurance pool, leading to higher costs for insurance companies.
- Congress would need to approve an extension of the subsidies, which is unlikely due to political disagreements.
- The subsidies helped decrease the number of uninsured people to the lowest level ever recorded.
