Cost of Obamacare expected to soar as subsidies expire and insurers hike premiums

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

July 18, 2025, 5:00 AM EDT


People who get health insurance through the Affordable Care Act could soon see their monthly premiums sharply increase as subsidies expire and insurers propose a major premium hike for 2026.

Insurers that offer plans through the ACA are planning an average premium increase of 15% for 2026 — the largest increase in seven years, according to an analysis published Friday from KFF, a health policy research group. The analysis is based on filings from more than 100 insurers in 19 states and Washington, D.C.

The increase will likely come on top of the loss of enhanced subsidies that helped people pay for ACA health plans by capping the costs at a certain proportion of their income.

The finalized plans — including how much more people will be expected to pay each month — are usually published around August.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/cost-obamacare-expected-soar-subsidies-expire-insurers-hike-premiums-rcna219440

[Walleye]

1. We can count on the Republicans to do their best to fuck up everything we've done to help the people

[ProudMNDemocrat]

2. The loss of Medicaid will be felt..

This is the MAGAt Republican plan all along to eventually get rid of the ACA and the fact an African-American man inspired it.

Who the fuck needs Health Insurance coverage they can afford anyway?

[doc03]

3. I know this MAGA supporter that had his life saved through Obamacare. He can't be convinced

he has Obamacare, he says he has insurance from the ACA. To this day his car is plastered with Trump and
kill Obamacare stickers. If Trump kills the ACA and Medicaid, they will find a way to blame Democrats.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. They couldn't legislate ACA away 62 times, so they are strangling it in a bathtub. . . . . nt

[groundloop]

6. While still repeating the lie that we have the best healthcare in the world

The most expensive most certainly does not equate to "the best". It might be the best if you're ultra rich and can afford exorbitant prices for every medication and procedure you need, but for the rest of us the high price of healthcare is a severely limiting factor.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. Lower life expectancy at twice the per capita cost. No amount of high priced technology fixes that. . . . nt

[Irish_Dem]

5. The GOP loves killing Americans.

[Ellipsis]

8. I've been trying to figure this out all morning and I'm still confused.

I get that rates are going up. What about premium tax credits?

[BumRushDaShow]

9. NPR has their article here

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/07/18/nx-s1-5471281/aca-health-insurance-premiums-obamacare-bbb-kff

Both are citing this - https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/individual-market-insurers-requesting-largest-premium-increases-in-more-than-5-years/

There is apparently a set of tax credits that were enacted (am thinking under Biden) that expire at the end of this year (unless Congress extends them).

Some of the factors that insurers cite as contributing to higher rates next year include:

Enhanced premium tax credits that make coverage more affordable will expire at the end of 2025, driving up out-of-pocket premium payments by over 75% on average. This is expected to cause healthier enrollees to drop their coverage and create a sicker risk pool. An earlier Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker analysis showed the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits raised proposed rates by an additional 4 percent, on average.

I am in the federal employees "FEHB" plan (as a retiree) so I don't know all the details about the ACA plans but IIRC when it was devised and tweaked, there were different levels, i.e., "bronze", "silver", and "gold" and it looks like the KFF article is suggesting that people in the higher tiers may end up dropping into lower ones in order to afford the new premiums, when the tax credits expire in addition to the premium increases.

There has been recent chatter from some GOP Senators about doing something about the tax credits (actually considering extending them due to the mid-terms) - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143496895

Some more from the above-linked OP's article -

(snip)

A handful of Republican senators have expressed an openness to extending the premium tax credit, according to remarks in Punchbowl News.

North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, who recently voted against Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" due to concerns about Medicaid cuts, told the publication it would be a "perfect opportunity for us to move past the reconciliation process, which is clearly a partisan exercise." Tillis has already announced he won't run for reelection in 2026, making North Carolina a top target for Democrats in trying to slim the 53-47 GOP majority in the upper chamber.

Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, both of Alaska, expressed support for bipartisan talks to extend the credit, while Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri said Republicans must do something to "allow people to afford health care."

"The cost of insurance on the exchanges is just astronomical. That's why so many people are on Medicaid," he said.

Thune told the publication that leadership is having conversations about how to deal with the expiration, but leaders have not said for sure whether they support the extension.

(snip

[Old Crank]

10. That is the overall number

The Economist thinks that the number for people in the exchanges will have a much higher rate hike in store. About 64 million people are in exchanges and they are thinking 75% and up to 90% for rural people.
Of course the bill doesn't really kick in until after the mid-terms.
But it needs to be hammered every day until it does.

[riversedge]

11. WSJ: Obamacare Insurers Seek Double-Digit Premium Hikes Next Year

Obamacare Insurers Seek Double-Digit Premium Hikes Next Year
Some enrollees could be hit with increases of more than 20% because of federal changes and higher health expenses

By Anna Wilde Mathews

Updated July 18, 2025 10:28 am ET

..............

Insurers are seeking hefty 2026 rate increases for Affordable Care Act marketplace plans, the coverage known as Obamacare. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois wants a 27% hike, while its sister Blue Cross plan in Texas is asking for 21%. The largest ACA plans in Washington state, Georgia and Rhode Island are all looking for premiums to surge more than 20%.

............ About 24 million people have ACA plans.

At the request of The Wall Street Journal, the health-research nonprofit KFF analyzed the rate requests for the largest ACA plans by enrollment in 17 states where the insurers’ filings have already become public, as well as the District of Columbia. They showed that some of the biggest national ACA players, including Centene and Elevance Health, are seeking double-digit increases in several states. The Blue Cross & Blue Shield plans of Texas and Illinois are both owned by Health Care Service, a giant nonprofit.

Higher ACA premiums would hit consumers including Clare Forry, a 40-year-old resident of Arlington Heights, Ill., who has a Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois plan that currently costs about $590 a month. If her monthly payment rose above $700 next year, the cost would be “pretty hard to grasp,” said Forry, a retail-industry manager. “That’s some people’s mortgage payments.”


Most Obamacare enrollees’ monthly insurance bills will go up substantially next year because of reductions in federal subsidies that help pay for their coverage..............
...............

[Bayard]

12. This will be rethuglicans excuse to finally kill it

Many people will lose their healthcare altogether because they won't be able to afford it. They'll probably blame Biden.

[ImNotGod]

14. This plus Medicaid cuts will guarantee thousands of hospitals and medical centers will be going out of biz. nt

[LudwigPastorius]

15. All thanks to the Big Beautiful BOHICA Bill...

Republicans would kill 100 people if it meant adding a penny to their bank balance.