The government shutdown may be over, but Americans are still paying the price. The government reopened this week without a resolution on the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies that make having health insurance possible for millions of Americans.
As Open Enrollment is underway, people insured through the ACA could see their premium insurance rates double, or even triple. Those who rely on the subsidies are left to make a difficult decision: Pay more for essential coverage or forgo care altogether.
What You Need To Know
Insurance rate premiums are seeing dramatic hikes as Affordable Care Act subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year
The subsidies were a key reason behind the government shutdown, but ultimately did not get an extension
There will be a vote to extend ACA subsidies in mid-December
It’s something that worries New York state Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald.
“If health insurance becomes unaffordable for people, they choose to not get it,” McDonald explained. “Because if you have to choose between paying your mortgage, paying your rent or buying food, people make choices.”
The commissioner said that when people go without insurance, they go without preventative care, which he said can lead to more severe, costly problems down the line.
“People don’t get the mammograms, so you’re going to have breast cancer when it’s discovered being much later. So you won’t have as good of an outcome, you won’t have a colonoscopy, so you won’t have your colon cancer diagnosis till much later, and you’ll have a worse outcome. You won’t have your hypertension diagnosed, so you won’t have it treated. You might have a stroke,” McDonald said. “This is just a few examples of why health insurance is so critical, and it’s really shortsighted to take away people’s health insurance without a suitable replacement.”
The decision to extend or not to extend ACA subsidies was at the center of the shutdown, with Democrats advocating for their extension and Republicans calling them wasteful, instead favoring alternatives that would reduce government spending, like health savings accounts.
After 43 days — the longest shutdown in United States history — a bill was passed to fund the government through January. In order to secure the necessary Democratic votes to reopen the government, Republicans agreed to hold a vote on the extension of ACA subsidies in mid-December. As it stands, ACA subsidies are set to expire Dec. 31.
Open enrollment ends Jan. 31 in New York state.
McDonald is critical of how the government handled the shutdown and the future of health care in America.
“The federal government needs to look at what people need. You need food, you need health insurance, you need water,” McDonald said. “You have to meet people’s basic necessities here, and this is where I think the federal government should have had a solution before they created a problem.”