Obamacare sticker shock: Three factors pushing premiums to record highs
Americans are bracing for their healthcare premiums to increase in 2026 amid uncertainty stemming from whether Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that are set to expire at the end of...
By Fox News · Fox News
Americans are bracing for their healthcare premiums to increase in 2026 amid uncertainty stemming from whether Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that are set to expire at the end of 2025 will receive an extension. Those shopping on the ACA marketplace already are expected to face a 26% premium price increase in 2026, and if the potential government subsidies expire, monthly payments for subsidized patients could increase by 114%, according to an analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation released in October. But the potential lapse in government subsidies, which seek to lower monthly payments for patients, isn't the only reason for rising premium prices. At the crux of the issue is that the ACA’s foundation includes several inflationary provisions that are driving up healthcare costs, according to experts. "Obamacare does more to increase prices," Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Washington-based libertarian-leaning Cato Institute think tank, told Fox News Digital Monday. "It increases prices on healthy people by requiring them to pay double or triple what they should have to pay for health insurance , and it requires everybody who enrolls in Obamacare to buy more comprehensive coverage than they probably would if you gave them the money." DEMOCRATS HOLD THE GOVERNMENT HOSTAGE OVER SUBSIDIES AMERICANS DON’T WANT One provision included in the ACA is the guaranteed issue, which requires that insurers provide coverage to anyone without factoring in their health status or age. This is a factor that ramps up the cost of premiums, according to Sally Pipes, the president of the free-market think tank Pacific Policy Institute. "As older patients use a lot more health care than the young and cost insurers a lot more in claims, premiums have to rise to cover their loss on the older enrollees," Pipes said in a Monday statement to Fox News Digital Monday. Coupled with this provision is the community rating rule, which bans insurers from charging older…