How ACA premium hikes could affect your part of Louisiana | Health care/Hospitals

The federal government has reopened after a 43-day shutdown driven by a fight over the future of Affordable Care Act subsidies, and the question now is what millions of Americans will pay for health insurance if Congress does not act.

New estimates from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a non-partisan research group that is in favor of extending the subsidies, show that marketplace premiums would rise sharply across Louisiana if the pandemic-era enhanced tax credits expire after 2025.

The enhanced tax credits were created during the COVID-19 pandemic to make marketplace insurance more affordable by limiting how much people pay each month based on their income. Congress later extended them through 2025. If lawmakers do not reach an agreement, the credits will return to their pre-pandemic levels, which are expected to significantly increase monthly costs for many enrollees.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities modeled how much more typical households would pay without them.

In Louisiana, over 280,000 people rely on the marketplace for health coverage, and many would face annual premium increases of several thousand dollars if the credits expire.

The subsidies have divided Louisiana’s House representatives largely on party lines.

In a prepared statement, U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Metairie, said the Affordable Care Act has never been affordable for most Americans and argued that premiums have risen sharply since the law’s passage. He said the pandemic-era tax credits only mask the underlying cost problems in the ACA, adding that Louisiana families “deserve better.”

House Republicans plan to advance legislation aimed at lowering premiums and expanding options outside the law’s “costly exchanges,” Scalise said.

U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, said in a prepared statement that he supports “extending and strengthening” the credits beyond 2025, calling them a “lifeline for thousands of families and small business owners.”

He warned that households cannot absorb the premium hikes that would occur without them and argued that Congress should prevent a crisis rather than ask people to brace for one. Carter blamed Republicans for creating what he described as a healthcare crisis through Medicaid cuts and attacks on the ACA.

Here’s what the changes are projected to look like where you live:

District 1

Covers: Most of the Northshore including St. Tammany; parts of Jefferson Parish; and New Orleans’ suburban areas.

Congressional Representative: U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-Jefferson)