Shocking boosts in premiums thrust ACA policyholders into health care crisis

Colorado mom Astrid Storey, a thyroid cancer patient with an autoimmune disorder, was recently notified that her monthly premiums under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will jump by nearly $500 in 2026. A naturalized U.S. citizen from Panama, she said she's now contemplating what was once unthinkable: giving up her American dream and moving to a country with universal health care.

Nathan Boye of Orlando, Florida, has diabetes and said he's been informed the monthly premiums for his ACA policy would soar from $28 to more than $700. The married father-of-three said he is now considering foregoing health insurance altogether.

And Doug Butchart, whose wife, Shadene, is living with the neurological disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) said he doesn't know how he's going to pay for her medications. A retired mechanic from Elgin, Illinois, Butchart said he's gotten a notice that the monthly premiums on his wife's ACA policy will climb to $2,000. Combined with an annual deductible of more than $8,000 and $10,000 in out-of-pocket expenses, he said his wife's health care costs will total more than his monthly Social Security check, which they both live on.

An estimated 22 million of the 24 million ACA marketplace enrollees are currently receiving enhanced premium tax credits to lower their monthly premiums, which were part of the original ACA legislation and expanded in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic under the American Rescue Plan. But with the tax credits set to expire at the end of this year, many policyholders are learning the ACA, commonly referred to as Obamacare, will no longer be affordable unless Congress intervenes.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/insane-aca-policyholders-soaring-premiums-100749474.html