What They’re Saying: “Mainers Face Steep Premiums on ACA Marketplace with Expiration of Enhanced Tax Credits”

Mainers see skyrocketing insurance rates amid open enrollment as Collins refuses to act

Augusta, Maine - Nearly one week since the start of open enrollment, Mainers continue to describe "sticker shock" at their skyrocketing insurance rates as Susan Collins and Washington Republicans refuse to lift a finger to extend the expiring ACA tax credits.

Despite months of warnings from Mainers about the impact rising costs will have on them and their health and Maine state officials warning action had to be taken before September 30th, Susan Collins "has yet to sponsor" any legislation to extend the tax credits. She has instead voted numerous times against a bill that would protect more than 50,000 Mainers who are at risk of seeing their insurance premiums "double, triple or even quadruple" when enhanced premium ACA tax credits expire.

See what Mainers are saying:

Maine Public: Mainers face steep premiums on ACA marketplace with expiration of enhanced tax credits

• Some Mainers now shopping the online health insurance marketplace for next year are finding steep increases. That's because enhanced premium tax credits will expire at the end of next month unless Congress extends them. The issue is at the center of the federal government shutdown. And as it continues, the 54,000 Mainers who currently receive the enhanced subsidies are in limbo.

• Meredith Eilers and her husband live in Bowdoinham with their three children. She's an attorney, he's an organic vegetable farmer. Until a few years ago, they had health insurance through Eilers' employer, a Portland-based law firm. But in 2020, she decided to open up her own practice. And she says she could take that leap because of the Affordable Care Act's marketplace.

• "We were able to ensure our entire family actually for less than through my employer at the time," Eilers says, "so it worked out pretty well for us."

• The enhanced tax credits, which began during the pandemic, have kept their premiums affordable, she says. They currently pay about $160 dollars a month. But now that the enhanced subsidies are set to expire, Eilers says their premiums next year will skyrocket to more than $1,400 a month.

• "I mean, we were shocked," she says. "We had heard okay, might double, might go up as much as, like, two, three, maybe even four times as much. But this is approximately nine times what we had been paying."

• Penny Collins of New Gloucester also got sticker shock when she shopped for marketplace health plans for her family of four.

• "What I saw filled me with such panic, I closed my laptop and just walked out of our office," she says.

• Collins says they've relied on the online marketplace for health insurance ever since her husband opened a small engineering firm in 2021. As their business and income grew, so did their monthly premiums, and Collins says enhanced tax credits kept the costs reasonable. But next year, she says their premiums will nearly double to $33,000 a year. She's not sure what they're going to do.

• "Every day I'm hoping something changes," Collins says. "I am delaying making a decision in the marketplace. We will use every minute of this open enrollment."

• According to Maine's Office of the Health Insurance Marketplace, the expiration of the enhanced tax credits will result in average premium increases of 77% next year. Even so, office director Hilary Schneider says there are still affordable options.

• For Meredith Eilers, she says she hasn't found any plans that are substantially cheaper. And she wonders whether she and her husband will be able to continue operating their small legal and farm businesses.

• "Now it's sort of like, gosh, ya know, is this sustainable long term?" she asks. "Is it sustainable with this kind of uncertainty, with this kind of potential fluctuation?"

• She hopes that Congress will take action to make health insurance costs more predictable, and extend the enhanced premium tax credits.

WGME: 'People in Maine are worried': Mainers brace for health insurance premium increases

• The government shutdown and fight over Obamacare subsidies is now in its fifth week, with no end in sight.

• President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans want to end those subsidies. Should that happen, many of the 22 million Americans with Obamacare could be forced to drop their health care coverage.

• "We are hearing from Mainers and know many people in Maine are worried about being able to afford coverage," Ann Woloson with Consumers for Affordable Health Care said.

• Insurance experts say of the 65,000 Mainers enrolled in affordable health coverage, three out of four will see their premiums double if Congressional Republicans do not extend the Obamacare tax credits that come with it.

• "Some people are looking at very steep premium increases," Woloson said.

• "Sixty-one-year-old, single household, with an income of $72,000. Their monthly premium would go from $325 to $1,195. That's kind of scary," Patty Lovell of Western Maine Community Action said.

• "People at the lower income level will end up paying more than people at the higher income level," Woloson said.

• "The reality of it is we won't provide these small business owners and individuals tax breaks, but yet the administration is more than happy to provide tax breaks for billionaires and corporations," Toby McGrath of Protect Our Care Maine said.

• He and many others fear that if enough people drop health care coverage because they can no longer afford it, insured Mainers will see their premiums and health care costs go up.

• "The reality is you, me, everyone will start paying for it. Because where these people start going if they don't have health care is into the emergency rooms and our hospitals, which are already starting to close in Maine", McGrath said.

Portland Press Herald: Urging Sen. Collins and colleagues to reopen the government and restore needed subsidies | Letter
By Mainer Sarah Domareki

• Around the nation, we have seen a referendum on Donald Trump and the disastrous policies of the Republican Party. It is fairly clear that giving people the choice between affordable health care and food on the table (which is what this government shutdown represents) is unacceptable to the majority of the American people.

• I also let Collins know that I look forward to seeing her and her Senate colleagues arrange to reopen the government in a way that preserves health care subsidies for those who need them and also provides food and essential services to Mainers and Americans.

See more: What Mainers are Saying: "Susan Collins Refuses to Protect Our Health Care"; What They're Watching: Mainers Share Personal Stories of How Skyrocketing Insurance Rates Will Impact Their Lives & Health; What Mainers are Saying About Rising Insurance Premiums: "I am Scared," "What Are We Going to Do," People "Are Going to Die"; What Mainers are Saying: Rising Insurance Premiums are "Catastrophic"; ICYMI: "Mainers to Collins: Prioritize Our Health, Renew ACA Tax Credits"; ICYMI: Impacted Mainers Discuss Skyrocketing Insurance Rates As Collins Refuses to Protect Mainers' Health Care; While Mainers Face Health Care Cliff, Collins Gets MAGA Swag Bag at Trump "Unity" Lunch; What They're Saying: Maine Democrats, Advocates Criticize Collins, "Warn [of] Health Care Increases" [Maine Morning Star]; ICYMI: Maine Dems, Health Care Leaders Call Out Collins for Failing To Protect Mainers' Health Care; What Mainers are Watching and Reading: Thanks to Collins, Mainers "Could See Their Premiums Skyrocket"; Maine Beacon: Susan Collins accepts thousands from insurers while health costs soar for Mainers

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