Drew Wilson
According to a new report, more than a half-million Floridians could lose their health care if Congress doesn’t make a tax credit included in the American Rescue Plan permanent.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute found that about 3.1 million Americans are at risk of losing coverage if the credits are allowed to expire. About 513,000 of those people live in Florida.
The American Rescue Plan boosted Premium Tax Credits (PTCs), which offset the cost of purchasing health insurance on the federal marketplace, but the expanded credit is currently set to expire at the end of this year.
If not extended, Americans who earn an annual income between 150% and 400% of the federal poverty level — currently $13,590 for individuals and $27,750 for a family of four — will pay an additional $1,000 a year for silver-level health insurance. Those with incomes more than four times the federal poverty level would pay roughly $2,000 more per person.
The potential increase comes after a record number of Americans signed up for health insurance coverage through the federal marketplace. Florida led the nation in the number of residents who signed up for individual health insurance through Obamacare last year, accounting for 2.7 million of the 14.5 million Americans who did so nationwide.
Protect Our Care Florida highlighted a data point in the report showing the number of uninsured Floridians would increase by nearly 25% if the tax credits expire. The increased cost burden would disproportionately impact young Americans and low-income Black Americans.
“Floridians are counting on Congress to extend the American Rescue Plan’s premium tax credits. President Biden and Democrats in Congress are working tirelessly to keep premiums low and further reduce the cost of health care, and now we need every member of Congress to get on board and extend these tax credits,” Protect Our Care Florida state director William Miller said in a news release.
“Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, enrollment in high-quality coverage is at an all-time high and families have more breathing room to pay for essentials like food and rent at a time when families are concerned about rising prices. This new study underscores that the consequences of letting these tax credits expire would be devastating for millions of people.”
One comment
Calling Ron DeSantis!
April 25, 2022 at 3:25 pm
“more than a half-million Floridians could lose their health”
They’re not going to lose their health. Their cost levels are going to change–perhaps.
“The potential increase comes after a record number of “Americans signed up for health insurance coverage through the federal marketplace. Florida led the nation in the number of residents who signed up for individual health insurance through Obamacare last year, accounting for 2.7 million of the 14.5 million Americans who did so nationwide.”
In other words, Obamacare is socialized medicine after all, and it doesn’t work. Even if they restore these PTC (which are just welfare transfer payments) tomorrow, this situation will come back again the day after, and the day after and the day after as our economy struggles to keep up with inflation and our Bido-budgets climb and climb and climb to stratospheric levels, always extracting more of our national wealth and, when that runs out, inflating our currency, just as they are doing now.
The only solution is for DeSantis to take control of this situation in Florida and rectify it before we are all impoverished and our hospitals start to close. Tell Biden to yam it, as in “Yam it Yoe!”
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