The \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill Act\u201d is supposed to be all about tax breaks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the bill actually cancels a tax break that could skyrocket health insurance costs for tens of thousands of people in Wyoming and drive up prices for all of us.<\/p>\n
Wyoming\u2019s Rep. Harriet Hageman and Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis love to talk about all the tax breaks that the Big Beautiful Bill is supposed to create.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But they\u2019re awfully quiet about getting rid of this one.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As it\u2019s written, the \u201cBig Beautiful Bill\u201d eliminates major tax credits that people in Wyoming use to buy private health insurance off the federal Healthcare Marketplace, via healthcare.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n By eliminating these tax credits, the bill would double, triple, or even quadruple the cost of insurance premiums many people in Wyoming pay.\u00a0<\/p>\n The result will be even tighter family budgets, more people without insurance, more medical debt, bankrupted hospitals, sicker communities, and a sicker workforce.<\/p>\n Currently, a single person earning $62,000 a year in Wyoming can buy a year\u2019s worth of medical insurance for $5,270 thanks to Marketplace tax credits. If the Big Beautiful Bill eliminates those credits, that price will increase to $11,810<\/a>, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s more than double the cost. And that\u2019s not the worst of it.<\/p>\n Older people in Wyoming who aren\u2019t quite eligible for Medicare will see the biggest increases.\u00a0<\/p>\n Right now, a 60-year-old couple earning $80,000 a year together can buy health insurance<\/a> from the Marketplace for $6,970 to cover both of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n Again, this is thanks to tax credits.<\/p>\n Under the Big Beautiful Bill, the cost will shoot up to $44,392 a year just for insurance premiums<\/a>.<\/p>\n For most people nearing retirement, this cost will simply be impossible to pay.<\/p>\n Just shy of 40,000 people in Wyoming get their health insurance through the Marketplace<\/a>, KFF Health News reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n These are mostly people who are self-employed or who work for small businesses that don\u2019t offer job-based coverage, or they\u2019re people who string together two or three part-time gigs.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve never bought health insurance off the Marketplace \u2014 I did for years \u2014 what happens is that you select a plan from a private company, like Blue Cross Blue Shield, but you pay a lower price than you normally would as an individual customer.\u00a0<\/p>\n Your Marketplace tax credit covers the difference.<\/p>\n Americans have been eligible to buy health insurance with Marketplace tax credits since 2014. During the pandemic, Congress created \u201cenhanced\u201d tax credits that made insurance affordable for even more people.<\/p>\n These enhanced credits have been wildly popular in Wyoming. The number of people who got coverage with Marketplace tax credits in Wyoming increased by more than 75% since 2020<\/a>, according to KFF Health News.<\/p>\n These \u201cenhanced\u201d credits are what the \u201cBig Beautiful Bill\u201d seeks to eliminate.\u00a0<\/p>\n This will mean a total loss of health coverage for 11,000 people in Wyoming.\u00a0<\/p>\n But that\u2019s not all. The way it\u2019s set up, Marketplace tax credits are basically subsidy payments to private insurance companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n When private companies lose a source of revenue, what do they do?\u00a0<\/p>\n They raise prices for the remaining customers.<\/p>\n Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming is the state\u2019s largest insurer \u2014 covering more than 100,000 people \u2014 and the largest local vendor for coverage on the Healthcare Marketplace. They stand to lose significant business thanks to the \u201cBig Beautiful Bill\u201d and will react by driving up premium prices for the rest of us.<\/p>\n On top of the thousands of people who totally lose coverage as a result of canceling the Marketplace tax credits, roughly one in five people in the state will face a premium increase on their job-based or other private insurance.<\/p>\n Tax breaks are great for the people who need them.\u00a0<\/p>\n Right now, families in Wyoming need a break to help shoulder the cost of healthcare in our state, which is the second-highest in the nation<\/a>.<\/p>\n