{"id":293245,"date":"2025-10-11T00:05:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T00:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/293245\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T00:05:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T00:05:16","slug":"without-obamacare-subsidies-this-couples-insurance-premiums-are-set-to-go-up-almost-2000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/293245\/","title":{"rendered":"Without Obamacare subsidies, this couple’s insurance premiums are set to go up almost $2,000"},"content":{"rendered":"

In late September, Laurel Vincenty got a letter from Blue Cross Blue Shield informing her that the subsidies that covered a big chunk of her health insurance would be expiring at the end of the year, sending her monthly premiums soaring<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Vincenty, 64, and her husband Philip Vincenty, 62, of North Carolina, are covered through the Affordable Care Act. They currently pay about $400 each month in premiums. An additional $1,700 is covered through the soon-expiring subsidies.<\/p>\n

Both Vincenty and her husband are self-employed. In 2020, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and in 2024, Philip had a heart attack \u2014 health issues that left them with thousands of dollars in medical debt they\u2019re still paying off. Their monthly medications cost hundreds of dollars. <\/p>\n

\"LaurelLaurel and Philip Vincenty.Courtesy Laurel Vincenty<\/p>\n

Vincenty picked up a second job this month in anticipation of their premiums going up next year, but she said she doesn\u2019t know if it\u2019ll be enough. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was frustrating receiving the letter,\u201d she said, \u201cknowing that we may lose our subsidies, that we don\u2019t know how we\u2019ll be able to afford our health insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The enhanced ACA subsidies the Vincentys are set to lose are a key sticking point<\/a> in the ongoing government shutdown<\/a>: Democrats in Congress say that in order to secure their votes to reopen the government, the subsidies \u2014 first included under the 2021 American Rescue Plan and later extended through 2025 in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act \u2014 must be extended. <\/p>\n

Open enrollment for ACA plans begins Nov. 1 in most states, and people already enrolled in plans are starting to get notices about next year\u2019s rates. According to an analysis from the health policy research group KFF<\/a>, without the subsidies, average out-of-pocket premium payments are expected to double, from $888 a year to $1,904.<\/p>\n

\"LaurelLaurel Vincenty before her breast cancer surgery on New Year\u2019s Eve in 2020.Courtesy Laurel Vincenty<\/p>\n

Lawrence Gostin, director of the O\u2019Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, said the damage is already starting. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven if a deal is done to extend the subsidies, many enrollees will drop out due to the sticker shock,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Unpleasant news\u2019 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Insurers are required to send ACA enrollees renewal notices no later than the first day of open enrollment, according to Adrianna McIntyre, an assistant professor at the department of health policy and management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. <\/p>\n

The notices typically include information about the next year\u2019s coverage and premiums, though some provide more specifics than others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat means we should expect a lot of marketplace enrollees to be receiving unpleasant news about their premiums in mid- and late-October,\u201d McIntyre said. <\/p>\n

People may have the option to switch to a plan with lower premiums \u2014 going from a silver-tier plan to a bronze-tier plan, for example \u2014 but those switches often come with a large increase in deductibles, she said. <\/p>\n

Navigators who help people enroll in ACA plans<\/a> might have been well-situated to help people work through their options, McIntyre added, but earlier this year the Trump administration cut their funding by 90% in states that use the federal HealthCare.gov platform, the online marketplace for ACA plans. <\/p>\n

More than 24 million people are enrolled in ACA plans this year, and about 9 out of 10 \u2014 22.3 million people \u2014 get enhanced subsidies, according to KFF<\/a>. If the subsidies expire, almost 4 million people are expected to drop their coverage for 2026, according to an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Jeff Feldman, a 60-year-old musician in Phoenix, is considering dropping his coverage next year.<\/p>\n

He got a letter Monday from HealthCare.gov that stated: \u201cThe extra financial help that was available because of the COVID pandemic ends on December 31, 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur records show you qualified for financial help in 2025,\u201d the letter read. \u201cIf you qualify for financial help in 2026, you\u2019ll likely pay more for your Marketplace plan premium.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feldman estimates his monthly premiums will triple \u2014 from $300 to $900, while his $9,000 yearly deductible will likely go unchanged. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey just priced me right out of the market,\u201d he said. \u201cI have two jobs, and I\u2019m going to start driving for Uber and Lyft just to get some extra money. And even with that, I can\u2019t afford $900 a month.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, he said, he plans to go uninsured next year and put the money that would have gone toward his premium into a savings account for medical emergencies.<\/p>\n

For others, the premium increases aren\u2019t as steep but will still have an impact.<\/p>\n

Wesley Hartman, of Chatsworth, California, said he and his wife got a letter dated Sept. 17 from Covered California \u2014 the state\u2019s ACA marketplace \u2014 saying that without the tax credits, their monthly premium will rise from $1,212 to $1,450. <\/p>\n

While they can afford the increase, he said, the extra cost will come at a sacrifice to his startup information technology business, which he launched a few years ago. <\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t be able to do things like expand my business more, or potentially hire or purchase software that can help me continue to grow my business,\u201d Hartman said. <\/p>\n

He described feeling a mix of frustration and resignation the day he got the letter. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe saying is that America is run by small businesses, right?\u201d Hartman said. \u201cSo we\u2019re one of them and just trying to build that. It really feels like there\u2019s nothing I can do about it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In late September, Laurel Vincenty got a letter from Blue Cross Blue Shield informing her that the subsidies…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":293246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[210,1141,1142,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-293245","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115352615365218173","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}