Business leader Henry S. Ford sounded off about the nation’s health care challenges in regards to the ACA tax credits. He called the issue “a lot more serious than we think” and urged policymakers to act soon to stabilize costs and coverage for millions of Americans.
Speaking at a roundtable discussion on economic and policy priorities on The Five, Ford emphasized the scale of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) reach. He also spoke on the potential consequences of premium hikes expected later this year when the tax credits are no longer in effect.
“Fifty million Americans — fifty — get their health care from the Affordable Care Act. We call it Obamacare,” Ford said. “To give you a sense, if you live in Florida, 3.3 million Floridians are on it. The second biggest state is Texas with 2.4 million, and the fourth biggest is Georgia with 880,000.”
Ford, who is from Tennessee, noted that even his home state has roughly 350,000 residents who rely on ACA coverage. He cautioned that mid-November could bring drastic increases in health insurance premiums.
“It’s going up for your health care and my health care,” Ford said. “Innovation in health care, inflation — there are a number of reasons why it’s going up.”
“If you raise health premiums on 50 million Americans — not to mention those impacted by Medicaid — that’s essentially a tax increase on those people,” he said.
Ford’s remarks reflect a growing concern nationwide on all levels of the dangers surging medical costs could have to economic progress.
He emphasized the importance of federal and state leaders to use the coming weeks to find bipartisan solutions that protect affordable healthcare for American families.
“We have four to five weeks to figure out what we do on health care,” Ford said. “If we don’t, the impact will be felt across every community in America.”