Originally Posted by James Brown
To a much lesser extent James, me and many other Americans are in the same boat. (Price, not medical situation) I know this is thin soup when the stakes are so high, but do you think the government/Trump/and the insurers will figure something out before or early in 2026? TACO could be on our side this time. In any case, if enough Americans pay double premiums in 2026 the midterms won't be a wave, they will be a bloodbath. So maybe a serious consideration of these issues in 2027 at the latest?
I get it that I am prone to Pollyannaism, but this is a big enough deal that the government and insurance industries collective hands could actually be forced.
I agree with you, and I'm actually a bit hopeful too that Republicans figure out they have to do something, and that a TACO will prevail. If it happens in 2027, it will be too late for me, as I only need an ACA policy for 4 months in 2027. I have far more concern for all the other people out there who are facing far worse dilemmas. For example, one of our good friends' daughters is deaf and mentally disabled. Her premium went from several hundred dollars a month to $2,700! She's 53, can't work, and has to get insurance through the ACA. Her husband makes a good six-figure living, but is self-employed, and they can't afford that. There have to be lots and lots of other people who are in the same boat. I can't believe that the Republicans thought cancelling ACA subsidies was a good idea. Are they truly so desperate to destroy Obamacare that they don't care who they harm?
A lot of people don't seem to understand that employer-sponsored insurance is subsidized. The only reason you can afford it is that your employer is paying a large part of the premium for you. The reason is that the employer gets a tax benefit from paying it for you, and if they have over 50 employees, they have to offer it. It's also become such standard practice that employers have to provide it to stay competitive in the job market. The point is that any health insurance that is affordable in the US is subsidized in some way; it doesn't matter if it's employer-sponsored, Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, VA, TriCare, or state, local, or federal government-sponsored. Right now, about the only health care insurance in the country that is not subsidized in some way for people making over 400% of the federal poverty level (about $80,000 for a two-person household) is ACA.
