Health Reporter Nathaniel Weixel from The Hill explains why Americans are facing higher ObamaCare premiums this year, with open enrollment kicking off amid a federal government shutdown stalemate. He breaks down what’s driving the price hikes, how subsidies could offset costs, and what consumers should know before signing up.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now let's go to the hotline and bring in health
reporter for The Hill, Nathaniel Wexel. You can check out
his new piece, Obamacare sticker Shock begins as open enrollment
meets shutdown deadlock at The Hill dot com and you
could also follow him on x for more at Nate Wexel. Nathaniel,
thank you so much for ticket a few minutes to
come on the show, and let's start with what's happening
(00:20):
right now? What's driving this Obamacare sticker shock as open
enrollment is set to begin.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah, so the main issue right now is the fact
that these subsidies have not yet been extended. Open enrollment
dark November first, for about seventeen million people who get
their insurance through the federal Healthcare dot Go marketplace, and
(00:49):
their opinions are rising, and these enhanced tech credits make
their plans peeper, and right now they're not being a extended,
so their plans are going to so as a lot
more expensive on November first.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Now, for those who are getting their healthcare coverage from
these exchanges, will all of them be experiencing this sticker
shot because of the ending of these enhanced subsidies or
is it just a group of them.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, most people who get their insurn through eighty exchanges
get the enhanced subsidies, So that's number one, and number two,
premiums are rising for everybody. We don't officially know how
much they're going up. A Health Policy Research Groups AFF
(01:43):
has said about eighteen percent on average. The Washington Post
is reported about thirty percent. But they're going up across
the board for everybody, and people who receive these enhanced
premium subsidies are just going to have their plan be
more expensive. So again that's most people probably, I think
(02:04):
about ninety percent of people in the marketplace to get
the subsidues.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
So how much of this premium spike is directly tied
to Congress not extending the enhanced subsidies.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
It varies states by states. Uh, it's not entirely attributed
to the lack of these subsidies. It's a good part
of it. But some of it is also to the
fact that everything is more expensive now. So helpcare utilization
(02:36):
costs money, labor, hospital costs money, drug prices are higher.
So these are also things that are baked into the
premium increases. I mean, and you can sort of see
that in the private employer market too, so like your
employer sponsored insurance is going to be more expensive next
year for a lot of these same reasons. But the
(02:56):
subsidy increase is also a major part of it. It's
something they lost as a major part of it.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
We're joined right now by Nathaniel Wexel, health reporter for
The Hill. You can find his work at the Hill
dot com. You've got some health officials saying it's already
too late to adjust pricing for twenty twenty six even
if Congress were to strike a last minute deal. Is
that true? What are you hearing?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, I'm hearing a lot of that. Mitigating the stickerstock
is going to be near impossible. It is still because
open a moment hasn't started yet, and right now to
get a plan that starts Ganuary first, people can enroll
three December sixteenth, so there's time for Congress to get
(03:40):
a deal and for the INTERNCE officials have said they
are able to givot and just as the chine of
ship around and reflect the deal if there is one.
But the problem is going to be the sticker stock,
and people are going to log in and see how
much more expensive I'm much drastically more expensive their health
(04:05):
incurrence is going to be, and they might just decide
that it's too offensive with them and they're not going
to have insurance and they're just going to walk away.
So that's the problem with a lot of these stat
officials are saying, is that, you know, if there is
a deal, they have to sort of find these people
who have walked away and decided to be too offensive,
(04:27):
we don't want incurrence anymore. They have to find these
people and communicate to them somehow and tell them that, look,
you know, Congress reads the deal. Your plan is not
going to be as extensive as you thought was. You're
going to be paying you know, about as much as
you thought you were last year. So that's also part
of the problem. And there have been estimates from FED
(04:51):
rel agencies that if these subjudies are not enhanced, subodies
are not extended, it's going to be about four million
fewer people who have ACA and currents over the next
ten years.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
And generally those people who would drop their insurance like that,
they're not those who are really in need of healthcare coverage.
So what you end up doing is you end up
creating a sicker pool who are still on the exchanges,
and that in turn could lead to even higher premiums
down the road.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Right, I mean, and that's sort of what and why
and fors are raising opinions when they say, you know,
the loss of these enhanced subsidies is making us increase
our opinions. It's because you're going to have a smaller
sticker population, so they're more offensive to cover. So yeah,
the kiniums are going to be higher because of that,
(05:42):
and the people who drop covered, they're going to be
generally be the healthier ones who feel like, well, I'm
not that sick, I don't have all these issues that
I need con turns for it does not worth it
for me.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Who is going to feel this the most? Do we know?
Is it middle class families? Small business owner? There's lower
income Americans? What can you tell us about the impact
that these subsidies have.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, so it's not really going to be the lowest
UH earners, the people act you know, people around the
federal poverty level, they're going to see the most the
least impact of this. It really it's going to be
the middle class people, as you said, the small business
owners or people who work for small businesses, those are
(06:29):
the ones who've really uh taken advantage of these enhanced subsidies. Uh,
and they're the ones who are really going to feel
it the most. Uh. You know, before these enhanced subsidies
were passed, there was what they called the subsidy click
and basically these traditional financial assistance dropped after a certain
(06:53):
income level, so everyone would get some kind of financial
assistance until you earned what they said about four hundred
percent of the poverty level. So after that point you
were how to so people who earn, you know, as
a family, as a two person household, you know, sixty
(07:14):
five seventy five thousand dollars a year, you're going to
be the ones who are hurt. So it's not the
low with runners, but it's it's sort of the middle
grounded people.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Nathaniel Wexel health reporter for The Hill. You can check
out his new piece Obamacare Sticker Shock begins his Open
Enrollment meets Shutdown Deadlock at the Hill dot com, and
you can follow him on x for more coverage of
this at Nate Wexel. Nate really appreciate timing insight this morning.
Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Thank you. The Ryan Gorman Show on News Radio WFLA,
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Ryan Gorman Show,
and find us online at Ryan Gormanshow dot com
Now let's go to the hotline and bring in health
reporter for The Hill, Nathaniel Wexel. You can check out
his new piece, Obamacare sticker Shock begins as open enrollment
meets shutdown deadlock at The Hill dot com and you
could also follow him on x for more at Nate Wexel. Nathaniel,
thank you so much for ticket a few minutes to
come on the show, and let's start with what's happening
(00:20):
right now? What's driving this Obamacare sticker shock as open
enrollment is set to begin.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah, so the main issue right now is the fact
that these subsidies have not yet been extended. Open enrollment
dark November first, for about seventeen million people who get
their insurance through the federal Healthcare dot Go marketplace, and
(00:49):
their opinions are rising, and these enhanced tech credits make
their plans peeper, and right now they're not being a extended,
so their plans are going to so as a lot
more expensive on November first.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Now, for those who are getting their healthcare coverage from
these exchanges, will all of them be experiencing this sticker
shot because of the ending of these enhanced subsidies or
is it just a group of them.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, most people who get their insurn through eighty exchanges
get the enhanced subsidies, So that's number one, and number two,
premiums are rising for everybody. We don't officially know how
much they're going up. A Health Policy Research Groups AFF
(01:43):
has said about eighteen percent on average. The Washington Post
is reported about thirty percent. But they're going up across
the board for everybody, and people who receive these enhanced
premium subsidies are just going to have their plan be
more expensive. So again that's most people probably, I think
(02:04):
about ninety percent of people in the marketplace to get
the subsidues.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
So how much of this premium spike is directly tied
to Congress not extending the enhanced subsidies.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
It varies states by states. Uh, it's not entirely attributed
to the lack of these subsidies. It's a good part
of it. But some of it is also to the
fact that everything is more expensive now. So helpcare utilization
(02:36):
costs money, labor, hospital costs money, drug prices are higher.
So these are also things that are baked into the
premium increases. I mean, and you can sort of see
that in the private employer market too, so like your
employer sponsored insurance is going to be more expensive next
year for a lot of these same reasons. But the
(02:56):
subsidy increase is also a major part of it. It's
something they lost as a major part of it.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
We're joined right now by Nathaniel Wexel, health reporter for
The Hill. You can find his work at the Hill
dot com. You've got some health officials saying it's already
too late to adjust pricing for twenty twenty six even
if Congress were to strike a last minute deal. Is
that true? What are you hearing?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, I'm hearing a lot of that. Mitigating the stickerstock
is going to be near impossible. It is still because
open a moment hasn't started yet, and right now to
get a plan that starts Ganuary first, people can enroll
three December sixteenth, so there's time for Congress to get
(03:40):
a deal and for the INTERNCE officials have said they
are able to givot and just as the chine of
ship around and reflect the deal if there is one.
But the problem is going to be the sticker stock,
and people are going to log in and see how
much more expensive I'm much drastically more expensive their health
(04:05):
incurrence is going to be, and they might just decide
that it's too offensive with them and they're not going
to have insurance and they're just going to walk away.
So that's the problem with a lot of these stat
officials are saying, is that, you know, if there is
a deal, they have to sort of find these people
who have walked away and decided to be too offensive,
(04:27):
we don't want incurrence anymore. They have to find these
people and communicate to them somehow and tell them that, look,
you know, Congress reads the deal. Your plan is not
going to be as extensive as you thought was. You're
going to be paying you know, about as much as
you thought you were last year. So that's also part
of the problem. And there have been estimates from FED
(04:51):
rel agencies that if these subjudies are not enhanced, subodies
are not extended, it's going to be about four million
fewer people who have ACA and currents over the next
ten years.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
And generally those people who would drop their insurance like that,
they're not those who are really in need of healthcare coverage.
So what you end up doing is you end up
creating a sicker pool who are still on the exchanges,
and that in turn could lead to even higher premiums
down the road.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Right, I mean, and that's sort of what and why
and fors are raising opinions when they say, you know,
the loss of these enhanced subsidies is making us increase
our opinions. It's because you're going to have a smaller
sticker population, so they're more offensive to cover. So yeah,
the kiniums are going to be higher because of that,
(05:42):
and the people who drop covered, they're going to be
generally be the healthier ones who feel like, well, I'm
not that sick, I don't have all these issues that
I need con turns for it does not worth it
for me.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Who is going to feel this the most? Do we know?
Is it middle class families? Small business owner? There's lower
income Americans? What can you tell us about the impact
that these subsidies have.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, so it's not really going to be the lowest
UH earners, the people act you know, people around the
federal poverty level, they're going to see the most the
least impact of this. It really it's going to be
the middle class people, as you said, the small business
owners or people who work for small businesses, those are
(06:29):
the ones who've really uh taken advantage of these enhanced subsidies. Uh,
and they're the ones who are really going to feel
it the most. Uh. You know, before these enhanced subsidies
were passed, there was what they called the subsidy click
and basically these traditional financial assistance dropped after a certain
(06:53):
income level, so everyone would get some kind of financial
assistance until you earned what they said about four hundred
percent of the poverty level. So after that point you
were how to so people who earn, you know, as
a family, as a two person household, you know, sixty
(07:14):
five seventy five thousand dollars a year, you're going to
be the ones who are hurt. So it's not the
low with runners, but it's it's sort of the middle
grounded people.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Nathaniel Wexel health reporter for The Hill. You can check
out his new piece Obamacare Sticker Shock begins his Open
Enrollment meets Shutdown Deadlock at the Hill dot com, and
you can follow him on x for more coverage of
this at Nate Wexel. Nate really appreciate timing insight this morning.
Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Thank you. The Ryan Gorman Show on News Radio WFLA,
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Ryan Gorman Show,
and find us online at Ryan Gormanshow dot com
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