| The State Insurance Commissioner is sounding the alarm that Coloradans will pay 160% higher premiums, on average, if Gabe Evans lets ACA tax credits expire at the end of this year.
Evans’ own constituents would pay up to 195% more, the state estimates – which would force thousands to drop their insurance altogether due to the increased cost. Experts warn that Evans’ health care crisis could create “a loop that drives up prices, which causes even more people to drop coverage.”
What does Evans think about all this?
“I roll my eyes.”
“These enhanced premium tax credits [are] a smokescreen.”
In some instances, Evans has resorted to his classic tactic of flat-out lying to Coloradans.
DCCC Spokesperson Lindsay Reilly:
“Gabe Evans couldn’t seem to care less about his own constituents. Instead of fighting to lower costs, Evans is shrugging off Coloradans’ very real concerns about not being able to afford their health insurance next year. Voters will remember Evans’ cruelty at the ballot box.”
Read the coverage for yourself…
Colorado Sun: Anxiety and uncertainty loom for 300,000 Coloradans who buy health insurance on their own
- More than 300,000 other Coloradans who buy their own coverage have no idea how much that commitment will cost next year.
- This year’s prices are likely to bring significant sticker shock.
- Michael Conway, the state’s insurance commissioner, said last week that massive effective price increases are heading for nearly everyone who buys their own coverage unless Congress acts — quickly — to extend the expiring subsidies.
- His office estimates people statewide will see a 160% increase in what they pay, on average. It will be worse in areas outside of the Front Range, with the estimated average increase there exceeding 300%.
- Everybody getting a subsidy — roughly 80% of the people signing up for coverage through Connect for Health Colorado, the state’s insurance exchange, receive federal support — would see an increase in what they pay.
- The state estimates that 75,000 to 100,000 people will drop coverage and become uninsured as a result of these price increases. And that only makes matters worse.
- Insurers predict that those dropping coverage will be disproportionately healthier — meaning they are cheaper to insure.
- The remaining people in the insurance pool are also more costly to cover, creating a loop that drives up prices, which causes even more people to drop coverage.
- One way to avert this crisis would be for Congress to extend the subsidies. That is what Democrats in Congress want to do.
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