Getting health care when you need it can be the difference between life and death, between happiness and misery. It should be a right for everyone, especially in the richest country on earth.
But 78% of Americans say health care costs are a source of stress and that number is likely higher in Kentucky, where workers’ wages are lower and health is poorer.
At a time of rising costs for groceries, housing, electricity and more, keeping healthcare costs from spiking is essential. And that’s what the current standoff in Washington D. C. is in part about. The government has shut down because Congress and the President so far refuse to cancel looming cuts that will cause insurance premiums to skyrocket, take coverage from millions of Americans, and put rural hospitals and other providers at risk of closing.
The immediate threat comes November 1. That’s when nearly 100,000 Kentuckians who get their health insurance through the Kynect marketplace will face sticker shock during open enrollment. Premiums are expected to increase nationally by 114% on average. Though exact price hikes will vary, examples include:
- A family of three in Berea earning $50,000 a year will see monthly premiums jump from $63 to $250, an increase of $187 a month.
- For a 60-year-old in Hopkinsville earning $62,700 a year, premiums will rise from $444 to $933, an increase of $489 a month.
- For a family of five in Louisville earning $65,900 a year, costs will increase from $55 to $296 a month, a jump of $241.
Prices will skyrocket because subsidies put in place in 2021 to lower costs on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces are set to expire. Congress failed to extend those subsidies this summer in HR 1, the budget megabill that makes major cuts to health care and food assistance while giving huge tax cuts to the wealthy.
A projected 18,000 Kentuckians will be priced out of Kynect as a result, and most of them will become uninsured. Because those most likely to forgo health insurance are younger and healthier on average, costs will also rise for everyone else.
The price spikes on Kynect are just the first step in a rolling health care disaster. HR 1 will create new red tape for Kentucky workers covered by Medicaid, taking health coverage away from an estimated 210,000 Kentuckians. In addition, the law shifts costs and burdens to the state budget and massively cuts payments to providers. That will threaten Medicaid cuts for all 1.5 million kids, seniors, people with disabilities and low-wage workers covered by the program.
And it will put the very existence of health care at risk in some communities. Many providers depend on Medicaid payments to keep the doors open. Kentucky has 35 rural hospitals at risk of closure due to HR 1, the most of any state.
Health care is among the key household costs that keep many working families awake at night. Too many people struggle in an economy where hard work no longer translates to middle-class comfort and peace of mind. Americans want their government to solve that problem, not make it worse.
That’s why a fight for health care in this country is essential. On the other side is the calm freedom that comes in knowing that care and security will be there for the scariest moments in life.
