Lobbyist Kevin Coughlin on Higher Health Care Costs: “A Win”

And lobbyist Kevin Coughlin is fully on board. He called the Big Ugly Law “a win” and even implied it doesn’t go far enough in cutting programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Thanks to the Big Ugly Law, 13,800 people in OH-13 will lose their health insurance when the Affordable Care Act’s tax credits expire at the end of the year because they can no longer afford their care, and even more will face skyrocketing premium costs.

DCCC Spokesperson Katie Smith:
“Lobbyist Kevin Coughlin is fully on board with Washington Republicans’ agenda: giving tax breaks to the rich, while ending tax credits that middle class Ohioans depend on. Coughlin’s plan means costs go up for Northeast Ohio families while billionaires get even richer – he’s wrong for Ohio.”

• Experts are warning that more than 500,000 Ohioans are poised to lose insurance subsidies starting next year. In many cases, the increased costs they’ll face will be so big that more than 100,000 will lose their coverage, they warn.
• The subsidy is known as the “enhanced premium tax credit.” It was created during the coronavirus pandemic to make insurance purchased on the marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act more affordable.
• It’s available to people making between 100% and 400% of federal poverty guidelines. For a family of three, that’s between $26,650 and $106,600 a year. Nearly 20 million Americans and 530,000 Ohioans receive it.
• More than 90% of those who get insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace receive the subsidies, and they’re set to expire at the end of the year.
• The average recipient saves about $700 a year because of them, the Center for American Progress reported. But some save much more, meaning they have a lot more to lose.
• “A typical 60-year-old couple making $82,000 … would see monthly marketplace premiums more than triple, from $581 to $2,111 — an annual increase of roughly $18,400,” the group reported late last year.
• One is by cutting nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid spending over 10 years as part of his One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The law gives roughly the same amount in tax cuts to the richest 1% of Americans, and it adds $3.4 trillion to the deficit.
• The Medicaid cuts are expected to add greatly to the ranks of the uninsured. KFF, an independent nonprofit, in June estimated that 11 million Americans would lose insurance because of them. In Ohio, 310,000 would lose insurance, increasing the rate of uninsured Ohioans by 3%, the organization estimated.
• Emergency physicians have warned that creating huge numbers of newly uninsured people will strain hospital services for all patients — especially in rural areas where hospitals are already struggling.
• ERs have to treat people regardless of their ability to pay. To cover those costs, hospitals will have to cut staff, leading to longer wait times, fewer services and negative health outcomes, the doctors say.
• Expiration of the marketplace subsidies would make the numbers even more dire, experts warn. KFF estimates that between the loss of subsidies and the Trump Medicaid cuts, 16 million Americans will lose insurance, including 440,000 Ohioans.

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