NBC News
People who obtain their medical expenses insurance through the affordable health care law, also known as Obamacare (ACA, in English) could soon see how their monthly cousins increase dramatically as subsidies and insurers expose a significant increase in premiums by 2026.
Insurers that offer plans through Obamacare They are planning an average increase in premiums of 15% by 2026, the largest increase in seven years, according to an analysis published this Friday of KFF, a health policy research group. The report was based on the statements of more than 100 insurers of 19 states and Washington, DC
The increase will probably add to the loss of extended subsidies that helped people pay the health plans acquired through Obamacre limiting costs to a certain proportion of their income.
The definitive plans – including how much more people are expected to pay every month – are usually published around August.
Improved subsidies arose from the American Rescue Plan of 2021 and expanded the number of eligible people, including many middle class. The inflation reduction law, approved in 2022, extended subsidies until 2025.
However, the fiscal law that the president, Donald Trump, promulgated earlier this month did not extend them anymore, although the subsidies for people with very low income that were launched when promulgated Obamacare They will continue to be available. The legislation also added more obstacles to people who obtain their health insurance through ACA, such as the addition of new requirements to renew coverage every year.
It is expected that almost 4 million people lose their coverage next year if subsidies are not extended, according to an analysis by 2024 of the Congress Budget Office, a non -partisan agency that provides budgetary and economic information to the legislative enclosure.
The loss of coverage would also have an impact on the cost of insurance.
With fewer registered people, insurers would have to distribute the costs among a smaller group of people, which would raise the premiums, according to Edwin Park, research professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University.
An previous KFF analysis, published during this month, concluded that more than 22 million people could suffer a strong increase in premiums from January 1.
“It is not a repeal (from ACA), but it is certainly an attempt to advance in that direction,” Park said. “It will be much more expensive, so it means that it will be less affordable for you to buy a plan or renew your coverage.”
Chris Meekins, a health policy research analyst at the Raymond James investment firm that served in the Trump’s first administration, said that the possibilities that Congress extends the subsidies in time for next year are scarce, since Trump and other Republicans have indicated that they do not support them.
Higher pocket expenses
According to Medicare and Medicaid service centers, registration in Obamacare He reached a record last year, with more than 24 million people. Much of that growth was due to the expansion of subsidies, according to the agency. The average monthly premium was $ 113, compared to 162 of 2020.
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Most insurers of Obamacare They propose raw increases between 10% and 20% by 2026, according to the latest KFF analysis. More than a quarter, the organization added, propose increases of 20% or more.
What people end up paying from their pocket for their monthly cousins could increase, on average, more than 75%, added Larry Levitt, executive vice president of KFF health policy, in a call with journalists last week.
KFF added that a family of three members who win 110,000 dollars a year and is registered in a Platinum plan of Obamacare –Which has moderate monthly cousins – I could see how its monthly cost goes from $ 779 this year to $ 1,446, when improved subsidies expire. If the insurers raise the premiums by 15%, the monthly cost could rise even more, up to 1,662.
Cynthia Cox, director of the program on Obamacarehe pointed out on the same call that some people could maintain their coverage paying more on premiums every month or lowering the so -called high deductible plans, which have lower costs but require that people pay more than their pocket before the coverage between in force.
Together with the other changes of Trump’s fiscal law, “it is equivalent to what is effectively a partial repeal of ACA, erasing much of its gain in health coverage,” Levitt said.
However, the subsidies that are about to expire are not the only factor that insurers take into account in their premium proposals, KFF’s analysis added.
They are also worried about the possible impact of tariffs on some medications, equipment and medical supplies.
Earlier this month, Trump threatened to impose tariffs of up to 200% “very soon” to imported pharmaceutical products to the United States. Most of the prescription medications that people take in the country are manufactured abroad.
The insurers also cited anticipated growth in the cost of medical care services, KFF added. They also mentioned the price of LPG-1 drugs, a class that includes the popular Ozempic and Wegovy. These can cost more than $ 1,000 per month.
On Thursday, a group of general democratic prosecutors filed a lawsuit to block a separate rule from the Trump administration that also makes changes to Obamacare.
