AARP warns expiring tax credits threaten access to health care coverage

Female Doctor with Stethoscope Holding Piggy Bank Abstract.

AARP, the nation’s largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older, published a report detailing the importance of enhanced premium tax credits to midlife adults across the nation.

“Premium tax credits helped many people gain access to coverage, including middle- and low-income workers without access to job-based coverage, small business owners and self-employed adults, and retirees not yet eligible for Medicare,” according to authors Jane Sung and Olivia Dean of the AARP Public Policy Institute.

The tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year, posing serious risks for 4.5 million Floridians who depend on them. If Congress does not extend the tax credits, these individuals and families will be forced to pay thousands more for their health care coverage.

A family of four earning roughly $130,000 per year would pay $4,400 more in annual premiums. A 60-year old couple earning $82,000 per year would pay a whopping $13,500 more in annual premiums.

“Many midlife adults, unable to afford premium increases, would drop their coverage and become uninsured,” states the report.

AARP estimates that 1.1 million Floridians who would lose coverage without the tax credits are over the age of 50.

In conclusion, the report calls on Congress to act.

“A continuation of enhanced premium tax credits will help ensure that midlife adults are able to continue having access to affordable private health insurance. These enhanced premium tax credits could be preserved through legislation to extend them or make them permanent.”