You may have heard reports hinting that President Donald Trump was open to extending subsidies for people on Affordable Care Act health insurance plans. He hasnt announced anything yet.
The Scripps News Group in Cleveland took a deeper look into how eliminating government funds for the ACA will affect real people. Around dining room tables across Ohio, people like Anne Griffith are trying to figure out health insurance for next year.
All rightlet me get into the website, she said while looking at her laptop screen.
FROM $240 TO NEARLY $1700
We first heard from Griffith about a month ago, when she thought her ACA premiums would go from $240/month to $1,200/month. However, after looking into it further, she said its closer to $1,700/month.
Health care should never be a political issue, said Griffith. It should be affordable. People in this country need health care. If you dont have it, you go bankrupt.
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Griffith said she retired a bit early to take care of her mom. She said that if the proposed ACA government subsidies are cut, theyll have to find the money somewhere else.
Well have to go into savings. Well have to look at retirement accounts, said Griffith.
REPUBLICANS SAY ACA IS NOT WORKING
Republicans have said the ACA isnt working, its not affordable, and taking away the subsidies proves that. Theyve said the added government money doesnt bring down the overall increasing costs of healthcare.
Kaiser Family Foundation reports ACA premiums were already going up 26% on average next year, but if there are no subsidies, its more like 114%.
DEMOCRATS FILED ‘DISCHARGE PETITION’
This month, Democrats filed whats called a discharge petition, which, if they get enough representatives signatures, would force a vote on the House floor to extend the subsidies for the ACA.
We do need to find ways to make it more efficient and more affordable but whats happening with the end of these tax credits does neither one, said Representative Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio).
Too many people are seeing their gas, groceries, goods, housing, rent, utilities are all going up and now were going to add healthcare on top of that? questioned Representative Shontel Brown (D-Ohio).
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The Scripps News Group in Cleveland reached out to several Republican U.S. House representatives from Northeast Ohio, only Representative Dave Joyce replied, saying, in part, We need a model that actually delivers affordable, high-quality carenot one that allows insurance companies to keep driving premiums higher.
For Griffith, she said the lower-cost ACA plan has been a lifeline for her and so many others that Congress has to figure out soon.
They cant just rip stuff away from people andtoss em out, she told us.
WHAT WILL THE PRESIDENT DO?
Reports claimed the president had been open to extending the ACA subsidies for two years while capping income requirements and adding policies to address fraud.
Another idea has been to create health savings accounts, and government funds would be placed into those accounts for people to pay down on their premiums.
This story was originally published by Jonathan Walsh with the
Scripps News Group in Cleveland.