New Trump Health Care Rule Would Hike Costs And Eliminate Middle-Class Tax Credits

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 10:52 pm

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The Affordable Care Act isn’t perfect, but a new Trump administration health care proposal would likely make the law’s harshest critics beg to have it back (if they ever get around to repealing it).

According to an analysis from the bipartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), a new rule proposed by the administration would lead to higher premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for millions of middle-income Americans.

It would also wreak havoc on the health insurance marketplace and reduce Americans’ access to tax credits that help so many afford their coverage.

More from the analysis:

The Trump Administration’s new proposed rule on health care would raise premiums, out-of-pocket costs, or both for millions of moderate-income families. If finalized as proposed, the rule would reduce the amount of health care that marketplace plans have to cover. That would allow individual-market insurers to offer plans with higher deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs than they can now sell through the marketplaces.^[1] It would also have the hidden impact of reducing the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) premium tax credits, which help moderate-income marketplace consumers afford health care. As a result, the rule would force millions of families to choose between higher premiums and worse coverage.

According to the CBPP, the new rule “allows individual-market insurers to offer plans with higher deductibles and out-of-pocket costs, but lower premiums, than they’re now allowed to offer.”

Permitting insurance companies to offer these bare bones plans, the bipartisan organization notes, would “reduce premium tax credits for many of the more than 9 million consumers who receive them,” no matter what level of insurance plan they choose – and it would further destabilize the marketplace.

The administration is doing all of this with the promise that consumers will have expanded health care choices. The choices, I assume, are as follows: 1. Be sick; 2. Be poor; 3. Be sick and poor.

In short, all the terrible things Trump claims are true about the Affordable Care Act would become a reality under his new proposal, and millions of Americans would be left with unaffordable coverage and fewer health care choices.

Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.