{"id":216829,"date":"2026-01-02T16:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T16:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/216829\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T16:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T16:12:09","slug":"anxiety-surrounds-health-care-amid-changes-increased-cost-in-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/216829\/","title":{"rendered":"Anxiety surrounds health care amid changes, increased cost in new year"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 According to a recent West Health-Gallup<\/a> survey, 47% of U.S. residents said they\u2019re worried they won\u2019t be able to afford necessary health care this year.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s in large part due to the rising costs of health care for patients on both marketplace and employer-sponsored plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thought of having to pay more for my family of six is terrifying, overwhelming and exhausting,\u201d Kassie Brandt said.<\/p>\n

Brandt and her family have healthcare insurance through her husband\u2019s job, but its cost has outpaced their family\u2019s income.<\/p>\n

Employers estimated that health plan costs would increase as much as 9%, according to a Aug. 2025 Mercer survey<\/a>. Even with attempts to reduce costs, the total cost is expected to rise 6.5%, the highest increase since 2010.<\/p>\n

Brandt said that her premiums have increased by thousands since 2021, when her family paid nearly $18,000. This year, she received another increase.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got the email saying my insurance was going up,\u201d Brandt said, \u201cand that I needed to start getting ready for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those without employer-sponsored plans are facing even higher hikes due to the expiration of the Affordable Care Act subsidies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Brownsville resident Alix Flores told the Texas Tribune his monthly premium is increasing 23 times what he paid in 2025<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cHealthcare in general is messed up and just so complex,\u201d said Dr. Cliff Porter, a primary and urgent care physician and senior fellow for health care at the Texas Public Policy Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dr. Porter said there are alternatives patients can consider to keep costs down and avoid extra fees, such as Direct Primary Care<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Under these payment models, patients pay a set fee to a primary care physician for healthcare services. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, I sent someone off to get a back X-ray [for a] scoliosis evaluation. They had insurance and the imaging center said, \u2018okay, the copay for your insurance is $109,\u2019\u201d Porter said, \u201cbut the cash price for something like that at this place is $60, so the direct cost is $60.\u201d<\/p>\n

Direct Primary Care often offers wholesale pricing to patients for things like medications and lab tests, Porter said. However, because it often works like a subscription service, that\u2019s not an option for someone like Brandt, who is trying to cut costs anywhere she can. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re debating whether we\u2019re going to continue with dental insurance next year or vision insurance,\u201d Brandt said. \u201cIt\u2019s like $200 that will be saved. That\u2019s not gonna cover all of our insurance increases, but I don\u2019t know where to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

The House is expected to vote on a bill that would extend the subsidies by three years, following months of discussion with no action, but it is unclear how that vote would play out.<\/p>\n

Read also:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 According to a recent West Health-Gallup survey, 47% of U.S. residents said they\u2019re worried they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[2096,163,85,8757,46,522,523,2101,238],"class_list":{"0":"post-216829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-consumer","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-insurance","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-mental-health","14":"tag-mentalhealth","15":"tag-money","16":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}