Last week, the healthcare consumer advocacy group Families USA led a discussion on how Republican healthcare cuts will affect 2026 health insurance rates. Families USA\u2019s executive director, Anthony Wright, started by saying that a flurry of health plan premium announcements from state-based marketplaces and state Insurance commissioners over the next several summer weeks is to be expected. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAmericans will face big, brutal health premium increase notices this summer and fall. Especially hard hit will be the tens of millions of Americans who buy individual or family coverage independently on the marketplace rather than through an employer,\u201d Wright cautioned.\u201d \u00a0\u201cThese Americans will face a double whammy, double-digit percentage increases in the base rates for health coverage and the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits that would mean hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in additional costs. These dual impacts will cause premiums to spike.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAugust 13th is the deadline for qualified health plans to submit changes to their filings to the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) for the Federal marketplace,\u201d Wright noted. Nineteen states and Washington, DC., have announced proposed rates, with an average increase of over 15 percent.<\/p>\n
Many small businesses are worried about the rate increases in 2026, said David Chase, VP of Policy and Advocacy for the Small Business Majority. Some of these businesses are still recovering from the pandemic. \u201cSmall business owners and their employees are looking at double-digit increases in their health insurance costs,\u201d Chase noted. \u201cIn New York, for example, small group market premiums have skyrocketed in recent years. In fact, an analysis just released last week found that in some parts of the state, average premiums for a gold tier plan have risen by 45 percent over the last few years, and New York is hardly an anomaly. Other states are experiencing similar increases.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scott Darius with Florida Voices for Health said that Florida has the most to lose. \u201cFrom the very 1st open enrollment period, Florida has led the nation in the number of people enrolled in Obamacare or healthcare.gov.\u201d \u201cWe’re at a record-breaking 4.7 million Floridians; that’s 1 in 5 Floridians who are enrolled in the federal marketplace.\u201d Furthermore, he said, \u201cFlorida still has the third highest uninsured rate in the nation, leading to poor health outcomes, but also widespread medical debt.\u201d<\/p>\n