Idaho Capital Sun: Thousands of Idahoans cancel health insurance plans on exchange ahead of subsidies ending
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ICYMI: Days Before Open Enrollment Begins, Senator Murray Joins Idaho Leaders, Residents Who Rely on ACA Tax Credits to Call on Republicans to Come to the Table to Prevent Health Care Costs from Skyrocketing
Idaho’s open enrollment data—first in the nation—shows twice as many people disenrolled from health insurance during this year’s open enrollment period, new enrollments fell by 24 percent, and more people shifted to lower-quality plans
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement on new data from Idaho’s health insurance marketplace showing the very real consequences of Republicans’ refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits and letting health care premiums skyrocket for families across the country.
Idaho’s open enrollment period ended on Monday—the first in the nation to close, making it a key bellwether of how Republican health care sabotage is affecting families’ decisions around health care coverage for next year. Yesterday, Idaho’s exchange marketplace reported that twice as many people disenrolled in health insurance during this year’s open enrollment period, new enrollments fell by 24 percent, and more people shifted to lower-quality insurance plans, where the cost of care is higher. The Executive Director of Idaho’s insurance marketplace, Your Health Idaho, cited affordability as a key concern for Idahoans signing up for health care this year—and said they expect an additional 20,000 people to cancel their coverage in the coming months because they won’t be able to afford their monthly premiums.
“Idaho is the canary in the coal mine on Republican health care sabotage. This week, we got our first look at the very real—and likely irreversible—damage Republicans have caused by refusing to extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits all year, and sending health care costs skyrocketing.
“While Republicans have been wasting time, ignoring the problem, and voting down legislation to extend the tax credits time and time again, their constituents have been getting priced out of their health care and shouting for help. What we’re seeing now in Idaho isn’t pretty: twice as many people disenrolling from their health insurance plans, 24 percent fewer enrollments, and more people shifting to lower-quality plans where the cost of care is higher. And we haven’t even seen the full scope of the damage yet—another 20,000 Idahoans are expected to cancel coverage in the coming months because they won’t be able to keep up with the higher payments Republicans set in motion.
“The worst part is, this was completely avoidable. Republicans could have chosen to act at any point this entire year to stop their own constituents from getting priced out of their health care—instead, they shoveled new tax breaks at billionaires and declined to do a single thing to stop families’ premiums from doubling, tripling, or worse. I have never seen anything like the complete disregard Republicans are showing their own constituents on this issue—no one should forget this.
“If Republicans want to burn down the health system, Democrats are going to make sure every single person holds them accountable for that decision next fall. And we are going to turn our attention to what comes next—how we rebuild a stronger health care system for everyone.”
More than 3 in 4 people who get their health care through the ACA marketplaces live in states President Trump won in 2024, including Idaho, where over 100,000 people rely on the ACA tax credits to afford health care. In Idaho, the ACA tax credits–which 87 percent of Idahoans who get health insurance through the marketplace receive—have lowered average monthly premiums by $407. A typical 60-year-old couple making $85,000 in Idaho is facing a whopping $17,900 increase in their annual premium costs next year due to Republicans’ refusal to extend the tax credits.
Senator Murray has been speaking out nonstop about the importance and urgency of extending the ACA tax credits and stopping health care costs from skyrocketing, and she has been calling on Republicans this entire year to come to the negotiating table to work out a bipartisan deal to extend the tax credits—which they have refused to do. She has spoken on the Senate floor time and time again making the case for extending the ACA tax credits, and has held numerous virtual press conferences with Washingtonians—as well as residents of neighboring red states Idaho and Montana, warning that Republicans’ refusal to save the tax credits will hurt people in red states the most.
As the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Murray led legislation supported by the Democratic caucus that would have addressed the health care crisis and prevented the government shutdown. Senator Murray played a critical role in passing the enhanced premium tax credits in the American Rescue Plan in 2021 and extending them in the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, and she has been fighting for months to make sure these important health care tax credits don’t expire, including cosponsoring multiple pieces of legislation—the Health Care Affordability Act and the Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act—that would make them permanent.
A timeline detailing how Senator Murray has been fighting for years to extend the ACA tax credits, and calling on Republicans to come to the table and negotiate, is HERE.
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