{"id":235273,"date":"2025-10-23T14:45:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T14:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/235273\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T14:45:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T14:45:09","slug":"as-obamacare-premiums-climb-some-plan-to-drop-their-health-insurance-and-go-uninsured","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/235273\/","title":{"rendered":"As Obamacare premiums climb, some plan to drop their health insurance and go uninsured"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ginny Murray says she and her husband, Chaz, are out of options for health insurance. In January, their premiums are expected to rise higher<\/a> than they\u2019ve ever gone up before, putting the cost out of reach. <\/p>\n

The Arkansas couple plan to drop their coverage, betting their savings will be enough if unexpected illness strikes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur plan is to keep putting the money we\u2019re already paying towards health care in savings,\u201d said Murray, whose insurance is covered through the Affordable Care Act, \u201cand really just hoping that we don\u2019t have a stroke or we don\u2019t have a heart attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

They\u2019re part of a broader shift taking shape as enhanced subsidies for ACA premiums<\/a> are set to expire at the end of the year. Without them, many Americans could see their monthly premiums double or even triple next year<\/a>, a spike that\u2019s forcing people to rethink what they can afford \u2014 or whether health insurance is even worth it. <\/p>\n

Next year will be the biggest premium increase<\/a> since the ACA took effect, said Art Caplan, the head of the medical ethics division at NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York City. <\/p>\n

Open enrollment for ACA plans begins next month, and there is no data yet on how many people plan on dropping their coverage. However, the Congressional Budget Office projects<\/a> nearly 4 million will drop their health insurance for next year if the subsidies expire. The issue has paralyzed Washington, where Democrats say they won\u2019t vote to reopen the government<\/a> unless the tax credits are extended.<\/p>\n

For Murray, 48, the math simply doesn\u2019t work. A truck driver, she was injured in a work accident 2 \u00bd years ago and is still receiving workers\u2019 compensation, unable to work full time. Her husband, also a truck driver, continues to drive as an independent owner-operator.<\/p>\n

The couple\u2019s monthly premium is around $1,500; with the subsidies<\/a>, it comes down to around $450. But the state regulators approved a 26% rate increase for their insurer, which means their premiums will rise by at least $400 next year. The cost could more than triple if the subsidies expire.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat other choice do we have?\u201d Murray said. <\/p>\n

\u2018A catastrophic event\u2019<\/p>\n

Choosing to go uninsured isn\u2019t new. Before the ACA became law in 2010, millions of Americans made similar choices \u2014 often with devastating financial consequences, said Dr. Adam Gaffney, a critical care physician and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. <\/p>\n

From 2010 to 2023, the rate of people going uninsured fell from around 16% \u2014 about 48 million people \u2014 to 7.7%, according to data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities<\/a>, a nonpartisan research group. Meanwhile, enrollment in ACA plans has grown from 8 million people in 2014 to a record 24.3 million people in 2025, thanks in part to the enhanced subsidies, according to the health policy research group KFF<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnless you are extraordinarily rich, it is effectively not possible to save enough money to cover the costs of a serious illness or major trauma,\u201d Gaffney said. \u201cFor the uninsured, medical debt and bankruptcy is just one major illness or injury away.\u201d <\/p>\n

That reality is compounded by the fact that many Americans don\u2019t have much of a financial cushion, said JoAnn Volk, co-director of Georgetown University\u2019s Center on Health Insurance Reforms.<\/p>\n

In 2024, roughly 37% of adults said they would struggle to cover a $400 emergency expense, according to the Federal Reserve<\/a>. <\/p>\n

And for those who do manage to build a large emergency fund, the balance often pales in comparison to what a common medical procedure could cost, Volk said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure people plan to save the money,\u201d Volk said, \u201cbut [I\u2019m] not sure how many can do so, and I expect they don\u2019t know how much they\u2019ll need for some common procedures if they have to pay out of pocket, let alone a catastrophic event or unexpected diagnosis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s only gotten worse\u2019<\/p>\n

D\u2019nelle Dowis, of Denver, knows how quickly an unexpected medical expense can add up. She recalls how her father\u2019s appendectomy in the 1990s was a huge financial burden for her family. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a big thing for our family having to deal with that,\u201d Dowis said. \u201cSo, there\u2019s some kind of childhood fears wrapped up in this.\u201d <\/p>\n

Still, Dowis and her husband, Christopher, plan to drop their ACA coverage<\/a> for next year and put that money into a high-yield savings account. <\/p>\n

The Denver couple, both in their 40s, run a web development business together \u2014 which Dowis says they were only able to start due to the safety net the ACA provided. They pay about $600 a month in premiums, but that could jump to $1,300 next year. <\/p>\n

\"D\u2019nelleD\u2019nelle and Christopher Dowis and their two dogs.Courtesy of Dowis family<\/p>\n

Keeping their coverage would mean cutting back on care for their two aging dogs, both of whom have cancer, as well as putting less money toward their retirement savings and holiday travel to visit family. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d be cutting down on other things that I see as necessities, and I\u2019m not sure if, at this point in my 40s, I\u2019m necessarily willing to do that or not,\u201d Dowis said. <\/p>\n

Both she and her husband are healthy, which makes going without coverage feel manageable for now. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am exceptionally frustrated and there\u2019s a level of anger to it,\u201d Dowis said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had 15 years now to try to solve this problem, and it\u2019s only gotten worse.\u201d <\/p>\n

Claire Esparros, 34, said she has the same \u201cpsychological, mental, emotional breakdown\u201d every year when it\u2019s time to renew her ACA coverage and face the new monthly rate.<\/p>\n

Esparros, a New York City-based freelance photographer, has no major health problems and mostly uses her coverage for the basics \u2014 annual physicals and the occasional sick visit. But she said her plan hasn\u2019t offered much peace of mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s horrible insurance,\u201d she said. She has a so-called catastrophic plan, which carries a deductible of nearly $10,000. \u201cThe only reason I have it is if something truly horrible happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next year, though, she\u2019s planning to let it go. Her monthly premium is set to triple from about $300 to $900 \u2014 and she said she can no longer justify the cost.<\/p>\n

Instead of setting up a savings account like the Murrays and Dowises, Esparros is exploring health care co-ops, which pool money among members to cover medical expenses.<\/p>\n

Caplan, of NYU Grossman School of Medicine, said co-ops, sometimes called community-based self-insurance, can be cheaper and more flexible \u2014 especially for healthy people \u2014 but they aren\u2019t regulated under the ACA. That means they may not cover certain medical bills and are subject to bankruptcy from a single expensive case. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a \u2018Put your faith in your neighbor\u2019 idea,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Esparros has been looking into two options and said so far she hasn\u2019t heard of any major drawbacks. \u201cIt feels more personal and safe,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ginny Murray says she and her husband, Chaz, are out of options for health insurance. In January, their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,137,500],"class_list":{"0":"post-235273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}