Saturday is the day nearly 24 million customers will be able to start purchasing health insurance plans on health.gov and the state's Obamacare exchanges.
Many of these buyers face higher prices and uncertainty.
It is expected that average premiums more than double. Directors who manage enrollment in markets in states such as Maryland, California, Pennsylvania and Idaho told my colleague Julie Appleby and me that people are wondering how they can save up hundreds—or even thousands—of more dollars in the next year to pay for these plans. Some people consider plans with a five-figure deductible, like one Virginia Beach, Va., family facing a $20,000 deductible to keep monthly premiums around $70.
“They may look cheap from a premium perspective, but the coverage itself will end up costing that family a lot,” Deepak Madala, director of Enroll Virginia, told me this month.
Even as Americans consider costly plans, there is a very real possibility that things could change if Congress reaches a last-minute deal to extend subsidies until the end of open enrollment, which runs through Jan. 15 in most states.
Behind the scenes, state exchange directors are developing contingency plans.
In Idaho, the state's exchange director says he has “notices ready” if Congress comes up with something. California and Maryland are preparing to temporarily close open enrollment if lawmakers agree to extend subsidies.
On Capitol Hill, insurers are warning lawmakers that time is running out.
“If anything goes beyond the first week of December, it becomes much more difficult operationally,” Chris Haltmeyer, vice president of legislative and regulatory policy for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, told me.
Yet a month into the government shutdown, Congress appears no closer to an agreement to extend additional subsidies that have made marketplace health insurance more affordable since 2021, when Democrats first approved legislation that provided significant premium assistance.
Republican and Democratic leaders have expressed a desire to find a solution before those subsidies expire at the end of the year.
But as is typical in Congress, each party has different ideas about what a deal might look like. And lawmakers haven't even agreed on how to take the first step. Democrats have demanded an agreement on ACA subsidies before they vote on funding the federal government. Republicans, meanwhile, are pushing back, saying they will only begin negotiations once the government reopens.
