Jeff Liles is hoping for a miracle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Last week, Liles, a backbone of Dallas\u2019 music scene,<\/a> sat down to complete his annual open enrollment for federal health insurance coverage and found himself staring down the barrel of a 445% monthly price hike. He\u2019d known about the ongoing debates in D.C. regarding the Affordable Care Act, the federal program that guarantees him access to coverage, and he\u2019d begrudgingly expected his monthly health insurance payment to double as a result.\u00a0<\/p>\n Instead, the system\u2019s estimate took his monthly premium from $440 to $2,400.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI honestly don\u2019t know what I\u2019m going to do right now,\u201d Liles said, adding that the new amount costs more than his monthly rent.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tThis year, make your gift count \u2013 \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOur work is funded by readers like you who make voluntary gifts because they value our work and want to see it continue. Make a contribution today to help us reach our $30,000 goal!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n ACA tax credits introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic are set to expire at the end of this year. According to the health news outlet KFF, <\/a>\u00a022 million out of the 24 million Americans who get their health insurance through the ACA Marketplace rely on those tax credits. They allow enrollees to pay an income-based premium, with the credits subsidizing any leftover cost to providers. If the subsidies expire, KFF estimates that the average enrollee will see their monthly premium payments increase by 114%. Increases to premiums for older adults between 50 and 65 are expected to be up to three times higher than those for younger enrollees.\u00a0<\/p>\n The issue was at the heart of the government\u2019s historic, 43-day shutdown earlier<\/a> this fall, and though Republicans agreed to hold a vote on a subsidy extension plan as part of the deal to reopen the government, it is unclear when that vote will take place or what the plan will include. A Democrat-led proposal to extend the current subsidies by three years is expected to fail in the U.S. Senate later this week.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n And as D.C. lawmakers do what D.C. lawmakers do, it is people like Liles who are left in limbo.\u00a0<\/p>\n For nearly a decade, Liles has relied on the ACA marketplace for health insurance coverage. In his early 20s, he was diagnosed with epilepsy, and for decades, he went without insurance and paid for his medications <\/a>out of pocket. Then the ACA prohibited insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions, and Liles was finally able to get coverage. A few years ago, a kidney issue landed him with two, week-long stints in the hospital. If not for his insurance, he estimates he would have $90,000 or more in medical debt.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Now, at 63, Liles relies on a half-dozen medications to keep his kidneys and epilepsy in check. Paying for those medications out of pocket would be \u201cabsolutely impossible,\u201d he said. But so is spending nearly $30,000 a year on health insurance.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t make a lot of money in the music business. If you\u2019re in the gig economy on any level, if you\u2019re a service industry person, if you\u2019re a photographer, a musician, whatever, there aren\u2019t a whole lot of options,\u201d Liles said. \u201cYou can\u2019t afford something like that. I certainly can\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n And Liles isn\u2019t only worried about himself and his fellow industry workers who may rely on the government marketplace for coverage. He is concerned about what higher insurance prices will mean for Dallas\u2019 entertainment industry as a whole.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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