New CBO Report: Trump's Refusal To Pay Obamacare Subsidies Will Raise 2018 Premiums By 15 Percent
Source: The National Memo
Steven Rosenfeld
September 15, 2017 2:55 am
President Trump is poised to punish 12 million Americans getting health care through Obamacare’s non-group policies by raising their premiums 15 percent in 2018. That’s the conclusion of a report released Thursday by the Congressional Budget Office/Joint Committee on Taxation on the impact of Trump’s refusal to say if the federal government will pay the Affordable Care Act’s subsidies in 2018.
“In 2018, the agencies project, the average benchmark premium will be roughly 15 percent higher than it was in 2017, largely because of short-term market uncertainty—in particular, insurers’ uncertainty about whether federal funding for certain subsidies that are currently available will continue to be provided—and an increase in the percentage of the population living in areas with only one insurer in the marketplace,” the CBO/JCT said.
In 2017, 12 million people bought non-group health plans through the ACA’s exchanges, of which 8 million received subsidies. The CBO/JCT report says the number of individuals seeking Obamacare coverage and receiving subsidies is slated to grow by 1 million in 2018. But a lack of subsidies and higher premiums, if implemented, would reverse that.
“That increase in enrollment in 2018 is limited by projected premium increases due to near-term market uncertainty and by announced reductions in federal advertising, outreach, the enrollment period, and other enrollment efforts, which push enrollment down,” CBO/JCT said, referring to other efforts by the executive branch to sabotage Obamacare.
Read more: http://www.nationalmemo.com/new-cbo-report-trumps-refusal-pay-obamacare-subsidies-will-raise-2018-premiums-15-percent/
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