As President Donald Trump got his way by ending the government shutdown without any concession on Affordable Care Act (ACA), two to four million Americans are set to lose their health insurance next year and another 22 million are set to see their insurance premium rise by up to 114%.
With President Donald Trump winning the battle to end subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), millions of Americans are set to lose their health insurance in 2026 and tens of millions are set to see their insurance premium rise skyrocket.
The ACA subsidies and Medicaid coverage were at the core of the budget standoff between Trump and Democrats.
Even as the government shutdown became the longest in history, Democrats maintained they would not pass the Trump-endorsed budget bill that would
raise health insurance premiums by ending ACA subsidies and remove another 11 million Americans from Medicaid coverage over the next decade.
But, eventually,
eight Democrats broke ranks in the Senate and joined Republicans to pass the bill without any extension of ACA subsidies.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has promised to hold a vote on a plan to extend ACA subsidies but House Speaker Mike Johnson has refused such a vote. It means that there is no realistic chance of ACA subsidies’ extension into the next financial year.
Up to 4 million to lose health insurance, premiums to rise by up to 114%
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that up to four million Americans would go uninsured with the end of ACA subsidies.
Even those who have called such estimates bloated, such as Prof. Robert Kaestner of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, up to two million Americans would lose health insurance next year, according to USA Today.
For those still on ACA coverage, as many as 22 million Americans on ACA plans could see their monthly health insurance premiums rise by up 114 per cent upon the expiration of subsidies, according to health-focussed organisation KFF’s estimate as saying.
Ironically, plenty of Republicans are bound to be affected by the end of subsidies as majority of new registrations after ACA subsidies’ introduction during the Covid-19 come from Republican states like North Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Texas, according to KFF’s estimate carried by the newspaper.
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