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About 3 million people have dropped Obamacare health coverage after subsidies expire and costs rise
The Department of Health and Human Services suggests the 13% drop is due to a federal crackdown on fraudulent enrollmentut, but health analysts believe it's more likely related to the Jan. 1 expiration of federal subsidies.
Millions drop Obamacare health coverage after subsidies expire and costs rise
Experts share why millions of people lost their Affordable Care Act health insurance plans this year after federal subsidies expired.
RFK Jr says community health centers should be the model for American healthcare
During a visit to Castle Family Health Services in Atwater, California, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. praised community health centers as a “template” for the nation’s health system, saying, “Forget about Obamacare.”
Sticker shock: 85,000 Pennsylvanians drop Obamacare health insurance in 2026
Roughly 1 in 6 Pennsylvania Obamacare plan enrollees dropped health coverage for 2026 due to “unprecedented cost increases,” the state’s...
When It Comes to Health Insurance, Federal Dollars Support More Than ACA Plans
Questions of fairness came up in last year’s congressional debate about extending Obamacare’s enhanced subsidies. Critics wondered why the federal government should underwrite coverage costs for people with ACA coverage. In truth, though, almost all health insurance in the U.S. comes with some federal help.
Nearly 450,000 New Yorkers Are Losing Health Coverage July 1
Thousands of low-income New Yorkers are among the first to feel the impacts of the "Big Beautiful Bill."
RFK Jr pushes back on reports of federal health coverage cuts
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. disputes reports that the administration is cutting people from Medicare, Medicaid or Obamacare, saying it is targeting duplicate enrollments and records for deceased individuals.
Trump to give $500 refunds to nearly 1 million Obamacare customers
The refunds comes ahead of the November midterms where high health costs are expected to play a factor.
Trump bucks and the politics of mailing checks
The checks started going out last week, nearly one million of them, and mostly to battleground states. With a return address for the U.S. Treasury and a letter enclosed signed by President Donald Trump, these one-time checks for $500 were ostensibly government rebates for Obamacare enrollees who overpaid. In the accompanying letter, however, Trump attacks his predecessor and talks about his record in office on an important issue he’s not polling well on, which makes it seem more like the most expensive political mailer in U.S. history. The average piece of direct mail costs between 30 cents and $3, according to Mail Processing Associates, a print, mail, and fulfillment company. At $500 a pop plus roughly 50 cents each to issue the paper check, the cost of Trump’s healthcare mailer sent to more than 950,000 enrollees comes in at more than $475 million. Trump’s midterm healthcare message “For years, the Biden Administration overcharged you to fund the operation of HealthCare dot gov,” Trump wrote in the letter. “That money belongs to hard-working Americans, not the Government, and now, I am returning it to you!” In the letter, Trump makes false and misleading claims about his administration’s record on healthcare costs, an issue Democrats have a 20 point advantage on over Republicans, according to a recent poll from KFF, a nonpartisan health policy think tank. Trump touts his administration’s TrumpRX program, which he claims is “delivering massive discounts.” However, new research from KFF found that of a selection of drugs available on the TrumpRX platform, just five were the lowest price, while 13 were the highest price. Trump also falsely claims in the letter that he’s fighting to lower healthcare costs. In reality, average monthly premium payment costs for enrollees rose 58% under Trump while marketplace sign-ups declined 5%, per KFF. Under Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, it’s estimated 10 million more Americans will be uninsured by 2034. You get a check and you get a check and you get a check Trump’s long promised cash outs to his fans, from his days as a casino operator and gameshow host to his presidency. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the first Trump administration made the unprecedented move to put Trump’s name on checks that went out under the CARES Act (notably the $500 refund checks this time around don’t feature Trump’s name). Ever since, Trump’s been chasing that high. In his second term, Trump’s promised more stimulus that never arrived, like refund checks from DOGE cuts and tariffs, while he said at his party’s convention last month that he’d give out $5,000 checks to everyone if Republicans win in November. In reality, DOGE overstated its cost cutting and Trump’s government actually now spends more than former President Joe Biden’s, while Trump’s tariffs actually grew the trade deficit. His proposal for $5,000 checks would add about $1.2 trillion to the national debt. The problem is there’s no money to give. These $500 checks — plus $90 Medicare rebate checks also going out as well as $250 deposited this week in some Trump Accounts for kids courtesy Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell and his wife Susan — represent the closest Trump’s going to get to making good on his promise to deliver cash fast. And the checks seem especially targeted. Though the $500 checks went out to enrollees in one of 30 states that use the federal HealthCare dot gov marketplace, a Reuters review found 71% of the payments, or $339 million, went to enrollees in 13 states that have the most competitive elections for governor and U.S. Senate. Most Americans don’t buy it Could Trump bucks sway the election? An Economist-YouGov poll found 57% of U.S. adults doubt Trump will deliver on his promise for $5,000 checks, compared to 21% who do. “I’m waiting on my DOGE check and I’m still waiting on my tariff check,” one 2024 Trump voter who’s since turned on him told a recent focus group. “It felt like kind of trying to buy people’s votes, which honestly felt like in elementary when the class president was like, hey we’re going to take you to the water park if you vote for me. It’s like, I don’t think it works like that.” But for voters in swing states who got a check, it could still matter. One survey published in 2022 found receiving a physically personalized check in the mail during the pandemic was associated with a much greater self-reported likelihood of voting for Trump in 2020, and those gains mainly came from out partisans. The issue for Trump comes if these checks are mostly going to Obamacare enrollees whose premiums have gone up by more than just $500 since he took office and who view the money as something like a bribe before the election rather than an actual long-term solution to lowering household costs. Spending $500.50 per mailer would be absurd as a normal campaign expenditure, but since Trump’s checks and letter are a government rebate, his campaign and super PAC didn’t have to spend a dime and he got out his message regardless. If enough voters in key states are swayed by the one-time payment, it could prove to be the best $0 the Trump campaign spent. Subscribe [ ](https://www.yellopolitics.com/p/why-independent-candidates-are-making) [ Why independent candidates are making independence central to their brand ](https://www.yellopolitics.com/p/why-independent-candidates-are-making) Hunter Schwarz · Oct 6 [ Read full story ](https://www.yellopolitics.com/p/why-independent-candidates-are-making) [ ](https://www.yellopolitics.com/p/these-designers-and-grocery-nerds) [ These designers and grocery nerds will brand Mamdani’s NYC grocery stores ](https://www.yellopolitics.com/p/these-designers-and-grocery-nerds) Hunter Schwarz · Oct 2 [ Read full story ](https://www.yellopolitics.com/p/these-designers-and-grocery-nerds) Trump wants to turn his first-ever golf course into a government course for presidents
Florida, hard-hit by Obamacare drop-off, feels the squeeze of rising healthcare costs
Florida has emerged as a national epicenter of the fallout from expired Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Trump's $500 Obamacare 'rebate' checks land in prime political battlegrounds
President Donald Trump's administration is sending $500 payments to nearly 1 million Americans this week, in a move that strategists say could potentially influence races that may determine whether his Republicans maintain control of Congress in the November midterm elections.
'Disgusting.' Democratic senator slams Trump's reaction to Mueller's death
Sen. Chris Murphy called President Donald Trump's response to the death of Robert Mueller "disgusting."
Mehmet Oz says Obamacare enrollment may be ‘too high’
Even as the top official for Medicaid and Medicare claims millions may be falsely enrolled, the Trump administration is urging younger people to sign up for high-deductible ACA plans.
The Republican assault on Obamacare has created a healthcare bloodbath
Since Congress let enhanced premium subsidies expire, Obamacare enrollment has fallen and healthcare costs have soared.
Here's why NJ consumers face double-digit Obamacare premium hikes
The five companies offering health insurance in New Jersey under the Affordable Care Cat, or Obamacare, are charging double-digit hikes.
Trump promises $500 Obamacare rebate checks for 1M enrollees in 30 states
The White House alleges they were overcharged by the Biden administration for exchange fees
Florida, hard-hit by Obamacare drop-off, feels the squeeze of rising healthcare costs
Florida chef Elijah Button faces a tough situation after losing his Affordable Care Act health insurance due to a premium hike
Obamacare Customers Paying $6,000 a Year Doubled in 2026
The share of Affordable Care Act insurance customers in plans that cost more than $6,000 a year doubled, a sign of the squeeze on household budgets after Congress let Covid-era assistance expire.
Obamacare rolls shrank dramatically in many states over the past year, new federal data shows
New federal data reveals the first 50-state look at a steep drop in Affordable Care Act enrollment after enhanced subsidies expired in January.
Health insurance marketplace feels growing tremors from GOP cuts
State ObamaCare marketplaces are starting to feel tremors from the GOP-controlled Congress’s ending of enhanced subsidies, as millions of Americans are dropping coverage. Experts and st…
Obamacare rolls shrank dramatically in many states over the past year, new federal data shows
Ohio and Oklahoma each lost nearly one-third of their enrollees over the past year.
Boycott launched against American Diabetes Association includes journal
Trump's $500 Obamacare promise, childhood cancer treatment with long-term risks, and more health news
How New Mexico Became an Obamacare Success Story
Affordable Care Act enrollment has dropped across the United States since the enhanced federal subsidies expired. But New Mexico has record numbers of people signing up.
Health plans with no providers may reshape Obamacare
The plans could bring long-sought innovation into health care pricing. But they also could expose patients to more surprise bills.
With DeGette’s loss, Raul Ruiz eyes her job on a powerful health panel - Live Updates
The Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee has jurisdiction over HHS, Obamacare, Medicare and Medicaid.
Obamacare enrollment fell to 20.5 million people as of June, KFF says
NEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Affordable Care Act enrollment fell by 18% to 20.5 million members in June, according to health policy research firm KFF, marking the steepest annual decline since 2015 ...
Health Insurer Centene, Looking To Cut Costs, Offers Companywide Buyouts
Obamacare insurer Centene offering employees buyouts to cut costs after Trump and GOP Congress didn't renew subsidies
Health care leaders sweat federal Medicaid, Obamacare changes at POLITICO Summit
“At some point or another, folks are going to lose coverage.”
Paul Renner calls for Obamacare repeal before GOP loses control of Congress
'We may not have a majority.'
Health Brief: Trump’s Obamacare gamble hits court trouble
Plus: A federal advisory panel is facing scrutiny over members’ ties to peptide products
How Obamacare changed healthcare
Affordable Care Act enrollment is plummeting. What happened?
Trump to send $500 rebate checks to nearly one million Obamacare enrollees
A day after promising to send $5,000 dividend payments to all Americans, President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he would distribute $500 rebate checks to nearly one million Affordable Care Act enrollees in 30 states.
Millions drop Obamacare coverage after subsidies expire, costs rise
New federal figures show that about 3 million fewer people had Affordable Care Act health insurance plans in February compared with the same time last year
Up, up, and away: Are double-digit health insurance rate increases ahead?
The Sunshine State also led the nation in the number of people who fell off Obamacare plans last year.
Trump couldn't kill Obamacare, so he made it more expensive
The increasing costs for health care – which were forecasted with tenacious but unheeded warnings last year – have Americans paying more for less.
Trump administration to remove 760,000 Affordable Care Act enrollees
The vice president cited fraud
Millions of Floridians Will Bear the Brunt of Trump’s Health Cuts
Medicaid cutbacks and the end of enhanced Obamacare subsidies leave patients and hospitals in the state with difficult choices
Millions drop Obamacare health coverage after subsidies expire and costs rise
NEW YORK — About 3 million fewer people in the United States had Affordable Care Act health insurance plans in February compared with the same time...
Democrats seek next ObamaCare ahead of midterms amid rising health costs
There is growing momentum within the Democratic Party to find its next ObamaCare heading into the midterms, as healthcare costs become more untenable and American anger over affordability persists.…
New factories and supersized Obamacare premiums: North Carolina considers what Trump has wrought
The president’s health care policies are on the ballot in a crucial Senate race.
Obamacare insurance costs set to increase again in 2027
Health insurance companies want a median rate hike of 14% for 2027 Affordable Care Act plans, according to KFF, a health policy nonprofit.
Analysis-Vance's fraud crackdown may raise costs for US health insurers, enrollees
NEW YORK, Oct 2 (Reuters) - A crackdown on Obamacare health insurance could raise prices for US consumers and insurers by removing healthy, low-cost enrollees, adding pressure to a shrinking marketplace.
Predictions of a mass exodus from Obamacare are coming true
The GOP is directly responsible for millions of Americans becoming unable to afford health insurance.
Rising Health Costs Push Some Middle-Aged Adults To Skip the Doc Until Medicare
Adults ages 50 through 64 faced some of the steepest increases in out-of-pocket costs for Obamacare plans after a set of federal subsidies expired at the end of December. Some say they are putting off care or considering dropping health insurance coverage until Medicare picks up the bill.
With midterms looming, HHS and states at odds over cause of lagging Obamacare signups
Trump administration officials point to their work on fraud as the reason for dropoffs while states and insurers blame higher premiums.
Double-digit increases await Pennsylvania Obamacare enrollees
For the second year in a row, Pennsylvanians with individual health insurance through the Affordable Care Act will see an average double-digit increase...
They're uninsured after Obamacare became too costly. And they're far from alone.
Americans are dropping out of Obamacare, especially in Kentucky
More Americans are dropping out or being kicked off Obamacare health insurance for non-payment than in past years, according to data through April from half a dozen states that sell the plans themselves.
Focus: Americans navigate 'wild West' of health insurance options after dropping Obamacare plans
When Stacy Cox, a self-employed photographer in Kanab, Utah, dropped her Obamacare health insurance plan this year, routine preventive care became a financial dilemma. Now she finds herself weighing $1,200 for a mammogram against survival of her business.
Exclusive: House GOP panel subpoenas 8 health insurers
Republicans are pressing forward with their probe of the Obamacare market — and putting heat on health plans.
Rising healthcare costs are reshaping Ohio's midterm elections
A drop in Obamacare enrollees has raised concerns about healthcare costs.
With DeGette’s loss, Raul Ruiz eyes her job on a powerful health panel - Live Updates
The Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee has jurisdiction over HHS, Obamacare, Medicare and Medicaid.
Your health insurance costs could spike next year
Early filings from 77 health insurers indicate that monthly insurance premiums could increase by 10% to 20% in 2027.
End of enhanced Obamacare subsidies puts tribal health lifeline at risk
Tribal health insurance programs face crisis as ACA enhanced subsidies expire, forcing tribes like Fort Peck and Blackfeet to limit enrollment.
Curing U.S. Health Care, Part I
In 2008, much to their own surprise, leading Democrats unified around a program of major health care reform. Policy wonks had spent years developing the concepts behind what eventually became Obamacare; big Democratic victories in the 2006 midterms and the prospect of controlling both Congress and the presidency made it possible to imagine turning those ideas into reality. During the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama advocated similar plans, based on those ideas, for expanding insurance coverage. And it happened! The Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010. When it was fully implemented in 2014, millions of Americans got health insurance: Impressive as the raw numbers are, they don’t tell the whole story. Before the ACA, even upper-middle-class Americans often found it impossible to get health insurance if they had pre-existing medical conditions. Many Americans were trapped in jobs they wanted to leave but couldn’t for fear of losing their employment-based coverage. Meanwhile, dire predictions from the usual suspects about runaway costs proved wrong. In fact, overall U.S. medical spending has grown much more slowly since the ACA was enacted than before. But the U.S., alone among advanced nations, still falls far short of providing universal health care. As you can see from the chart above, 8 percent of the population was still uninsured in 2024, a number that is set to rise over the next two years as a result of Republican policies. True, many of the uninsured in 2024 were undocumented immigrants, who we don’t try to cover. But there are still a lot of uninsured. Moreover, a significant number of Americans who have health insurance are in fact underinsured. As a result, they are at risk of incurring devastating healthcare costs and are sometimes forced to forgo needed care. This number is set to rise sharply in the next two years as a result of Republican policies adopted under Donald Trump. And not only is the U.S. unique among advanced countries in its under-provision of health care coverage, it also incurs by far the world’s highest healthcare costs per capita. So now may well be a good time to get behind a new push for major health reform — an effort, if you like, to finish the job begun under Obama. Today’s primer is devoted to the economics of health reform. During his failed effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Donald Trump famously complained, “Nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated.” Actually, we did know — and it’s not that complicated. Health economists understand the principles very well. And because health policy varies greatly among advanced nations, we know a lot about what works and what doesn’t. This will be the first in a series about health reform. Beyond the paywall I’ll address the following: 1. Why markets can’t be trusted to deliver healthcare 2. Routes to universal healthcare 3. What works? In a follow-up post I’ll discuss the pros and cons of different approaches, and possible paths forward for the United States.
Millions drop Obamacare health coverage after subsidies expire and costs rise
Health analysts say the drop in enrollment was likely related to the Jan. 1 expiration of federal subsidies, which caused a surge in plan costs that resulted in many people being unable to pay their premiums.
Obamacare rolls sharply declined in many states over past year, data shows
New federal data reveals the first 50-state look at a steep drop in Affordable Care Act enrollment after enhanced subsidies expired in January
Trump administration to remove 760,000 Affordable Care Act enrollees
The vice president cited fraud
Hundreds of Hawaii residents could lose Obamacare health insurance benefits in fraud crackdown
Hawaii’s ACA marketplace is run on the federal exchange Healthcare.gov, so the state doesn’t know how many of Hawaii’s enrollees are caught up in Trump's national fraud sweep.
The U.S. Healthcare System is Already Mostly Socialized
Now that Abdul El-Sayed is the Democratic nominee for Michigan’s open Senate seat, the outcome of this crucial race will depend mainly on two things: Whether Republicans succeed in demonizing El-Sayed because he’s brown and a Muslim, and whether they succeed in demonizing him as a left-wing radical. I will defer for the now the question of whether bigotry will be effective this year, although I will address it another day. What I want to address instead is El-Sayed’s signature issue — healthcare. Yes, El-Sayed advocates Medicare for All, a position the usual suspects denounce as “socialism.” I will get to the politics of his stance soon. Today, however, I want to talk about the substance. We should be clear that El-Sayed doesn’t even call himself a socialist. On the contrary, he explicitly disavows the label, saying “I’m a capitalist who just knows about capitalism”. In fact, as I explained in a previous post, the policies that El-Sayed advocates qualify him as a social democrat, not a socialist. Still, El-Sayed advocates a system under which the government would pay almost all medical expenses. Isn’t that socialism? Well, if that is the criterion then much of U.S. healthcare is already socialist. In fact, the government’s role is so large that U.S. healthcare is better described as partially privatized socialism than as anything resembling a free market. Let’s start with the raw numbers on health insurance, which pays the bulk of Americans’ medical expenses. Americans receive health insurance either from private companies or from public programs, overwhelmingly Medicare and Medicaid. Here’s what the breakdown of coverage and spending between private and public looked like in 2024: While a majority of Americans with health insurance get it from private companies, well over 100 million of us are covered by government programs instead. And these government programs pay more total dollars for medical bills than the private insurers do. Why do government programs that cover a minority of the population account for a majority of health insurers’ outlays? Mainly because Medicare covers seniors, and we’re expensive. Also, while Medicaid covers many younger Americans, disabled and elderly beneficiaries account for most of its spending. Even by the raw numbers, then, U.S. health insurance looks as much public as private. But that understates the government’s role: Private health insurance in the U.S. is both highly regulated and heavily subsidized. This is obviously true for the insurance coverage purchased by tens of millions of Americans through the exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act. But employment-based health insurance, which covers 161 million Americans, is far more of a government creation than most people realize. For employment-based insurance exists largely because of huge implicit government subsidies that come with major strings attached. Here’s how that works. If your employer pays you $10,000, that’s taxable income. But if your employer pays $10,000 toward a company health insurance plan that meets certain criteria, it isn’t taxable. That’s a huge effective subsidy, running at more than $300 billion a year. Take that subsidy into account, along with the more than $100 billion per year spent subsidizing policies purchased under the ACA, as well as the outlays on Medicare and Medicaid, and net effect is that the government pays for more than two-thirds of Americans’ health insurance. Granted, there are strings attached. Roughly speaking, employment-based health plans can’t discriminate based on medical history — that is, they can’t deny coverage to employees with pre-existing conditions — and they also can’t offer the plans only to highly compensated employees — a health plan that is only for the C-suite is considered taxable income. So given the restrictions of the federal tax code, employer-based health insurance is a lot like Obamacare, which also prohibits discrimination based on medical history and provides subsidies to make insurance affordable to lower-paid workers. The fact is that virtually all of private healthcare insurance is already well under some form of government control through regulation and tax subsidies. How should we think about this system? First of all, is Medicare socialist? Don’t tell anyone, but the way Medicare operates — it covers every senior’s medical expenses, whatever they turn out to be, while being funded by taxes that depend on one’s income — could be summarized by the old Marxist slogan “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” And back in 1961, when Ronald Reagan was the face of a last-ditch effort by the American Medical Association to block the creation of Medicare, he denounced Medicare as “socialized medicine” and warned that it would destroy our freedom. In reality, American freedom survived until Jan. 20, 2025, while Medicare is immensely popular, with an 82 percent favorable rating in the most recent KFF survey. Medicaid, government health insurance for lower-income Americans, comes in at 73 percent. This is in sharp contrast to public views about private insurers, who are widely disliked if not hated and accused of denying essential care. Furthermore, if Medicare is socialism, then the whole U.S. health insurance system, with the government paying most of the bills and placing conditions on private insurers, is almost equally socialist. If you insist on calling any program the government pays for and regulates socialist, then U.S. healthcare would best be described as a partially privatized form of socialism. And one must ask, what is the point of the part that is privatized? Do private insurers add anything positive? Or are they simply parasites, skimming off money that could have been paying for care? The case for viewing insurers as parasites is strong. Many Medicare benefits are now delivered via Medicare Advantage, that is, plans paid for by the government but run through insurance companies. MedPAC, an independent advisory commission, estimates that last year Medicare Advantage plans were overpaid by $84 billion, thanks to practices such as “upcoding,” in which patients’ health problems are overstated to get larger sums from Medicare. Assessing the waste from employer-based insurance is harder, but most evidence suggests that private insurers have substantially higher administrative costs than Medicare does. Furthermore, the complexity of private insurance, with multiple payers all trying to deny care when they can, is a huge burden both on providers — doctors, nurses, and hospitals — and on patients. What do private insurers offer to compensate for these costs? One must go through intellectual contortions to avoid the conclusion that they are, in fact, parasites. Which brings me back to El-Sayed. In supporting Medicare for All, he’s basically calling for an end to the partial, parasitic privatization of a healthcare system that is already hugely dependent on public funding. When one looks at it that way, it’s not at all a radical proposal. Admittedly, the political lift requires overcoming the opposition to higher taxes to pay for Medicare for All. Political realism rather than economics was the reason I and many other progressives supported Obamacare, with all its complexities, rather than demanding an immediate move to Medicare for All. But the political calculus may very well have shifted since the 2000s, as Americans are fed up with a system of unaffordable premiums, rampant claim denials, and byzantine claim administration. Moreover, funding healthcare insurance through taxation would allow for a much more progressive distribution of the cost. That is, compared to the present system, middle-income households would pay less as high-income households would pay more. And the U.S. would stop wasting large sums on pointless administrative costs. So let’s be clear: El-Sayed’s healthcare platform is perfectly reasonable on the merits of cost, fairness and health efficacy. And with private insurers never more hated, while millions of Americans are losing their health insurance, 2026 may be its time. MUSICAL CODA
US says it canceled 315,000 Obamacare policies last month
The US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said on Tuesday it canceled 315,000 Obamacare health plans covering about 760,000 people last month, citing unverified citizenship or immigration documentation and suspected improper enrollments.
Healthcare cuts threaten Sullivan’s reelection chances in Alaska
Alaskans have been hit hard by the healthcare cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and lapsed Obamacare subsidies, presenting a prime target for Democrats seeking to oust Republican Sen. Dan Sull…
End of enhanced Obamacare subsidies puts tribal health lifeline at risk
One estimates that 125,000 Native Americans will become uninsured in 2026 due to the higher costs.
Millions drop Obamacare health coverage after subsidies expire and costs rise
Hampton Roads Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina News, Weather, Traffic and Sports.
You Don’t Need to Vote for Socialists to Get Universal Health Care
Critics on the left and the right are, for different reasons, obscuring the Democratic Party’s long commitment to this cause.
They’re Uninsured After Obamacare Became Too Costly. And They’re Far From Alone.
After congressional Republicans let expanded subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans expire at the end of last year, some families have decided the price is too great of a financial burden and canceled their coverage.
Listen: What To Do When Health Insurance Slips Out of Reach
2026 has been a challenging year to buy health insurance. Contributing factors include changes to the Medicaid program and hikes to the cost of Obamacare plans. But doctors and researchers say there are ways people without insurance can find affordable care.
Oscar Health Reports Record Profit As Obamacare Enrollment Jumps
Oscar Health swung to a $679 million first quarter profit – the highest in company history – as its health plan membership jumped more than 50% and medical costs eased.
Health insurers propose double-digit-percentage price increases for Illinois exchange plans
For 2027, the state’s largest health insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, is proposing an average price increase of 14.9% across its exchange plans.
Rising healthcare costs, insurance premiums now worry Americans more than any other domestic issue: poll
Rising health insurance premiums and expired Obamacare subsidies are driving healthcare affordability to the top of Americans' domestic concerns in 2026.
Vance's fraud crackdown may raise costs for US health insurers, enrollees
A crackdown on Obamacare health insurance could raise prices for US consumers and insurers by removing healthy, low-cost enrollees, adding pressure to a shrinking marketplace.
New data shows consumers dropped health coverage after Republicans let subsidies expire
Republican officials don’t deny the accuracy of the data, though they’ve repeatedly tried to argue that the reduction is a positive development. It’s not.
Millions risk health coverage as they skip paying higher Obamacare premiums
A new report showed about 14% of Affordable Care Act enrollees didn't pay their premiums in January, signaling that millions more could be losing health coverage in the coming months.
Rising health costs push some middle-aged adults to skip the doc until Medicare
Adults ages 50 through 64 saw health care costs skyrocket after Obamacare subsidies faded. Now some are delaying care until Medicare kicks in.
Double Take -- Giese: Free market must be part of health care solution
If there is a “next” chapter in the Democrats’ deceitfully presented, deceptively titled and unilaterally imposed “Affordable Care Act,” commonly known as Obamacare, it will be added to a law
Millions drop Obamacare health plans after subsidies expire and costs rise
New federal figures show that about 3 million fewer people had Affordable Care Act health insurance plans in February compared with the same time last year.
The percentage of people without health insurance is growing
The percentage of working-age adults without health insurance has increased in the past two years, largely because many people can no longer afford Obamacare coverage after Congress allowed federal subsidies to expire at the end of last year. The uninsured rate for adults ages 19-64 rose to 11.2% this year, up from 8.9% in 2024, […]
Obamacare premiums surged this year. A new analysis shows it's likely to happen again in 2027
Middle-income Americans straining to pay for Affordable Care Act health insurance are unlikely to get relief next year, according to a new analysis.
The Trump health policy both parties are bullish on
Blue and red states are embracing a policy finalized during Trump's first term that encourages Obamacare sign-ups.
3 million Americans have dropped Obamacare health coverage over past year, after Republicans let federal subsidies expire
KFF expects the total number of people in the government healthcare program to continue to decline throughout the year, potentially to a low of about 17.5 million from 19.2 million now.
Trump’s escalating attacks on Iran pose risks at home
In today’s issue: ▪ Platner drops Senate candidacy ▪ Trump’s promises at NATO summit ▪ Kentucky governor requests McConnell update ▪ ObamaCare hikes give fuel to Democrats The latest rounds o…
Trump's $500 Obamacare 'rebate' checks land in prime political battlegrounds
By Andy Sullivan, Helen Coster, Ahmed Aboulenein and Tim McLaughlin WASHINGTON, Oct 1 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration is sending $500 payments to nearly 1 million Americans this
Millions drop Obamacare health coverage after subsidies expire and costs rise
Experts share why millions of people lost their Affordable Care Act health insurance plans this year after federal subsidies expired.
Florida, hard-hit by Obamacare drop-off, feels the squeeze of rising healthcare costs
ST. CLOUD, Fla. (AP) — Florida chef Elijah Button was chopping onions in June when his knife slipped and sliced his middle finger to the bone.
Health Insurer Centene’s Chief Financial Officer To Step Down
Centene, one of the nation’s largest providers of Obamacare, said chief financial officer Drew Asher plans to step down as chief financial officer in December.
Trump promises $500 Obamacare rebate checks for 1M enrollees in 30 states
The White House alleges they were overcharged by the Biden administration for exchange fees
GOP Ignoring Rise in Health-Care Costs Won’t Make It Go Away
As Republicans fail to address rising Obamacare premium costs for 20 million Americans, it’s becoming a more and more potent midterms issue.
Obamacare Enrollment Drops Sharply as Costs Rise
Americans can’t afford the higher health insurance premiums that resulted from Congress’s refusal to extend federal tax credits.
ACA premiums likely set for another double-digit rise next year
Insurers are proposing a rate hike of about 14%, driven by rising healthcare costs, inflation and the loss of enhanced tax subsidies.
Millions drop Obamacare health coverage after subsidies expire and costs rise
New federal figures show that about 3 million fewer people had Affordable Care Act health insurance plans in February compared with the same time last year. The Department of Health and Human Services...
California is getting ready to increase a health insurance tax — will it affect your premium?
Legislators this week approved a health tax bill meant to continue critical federal funding for the state’s Medicaid program.
The public health insurance option isn't the great choice you think it is
Moderate Democrats have frequently been returning to an old Obamacare debate-era proposal called the public option. They often label it “Medicare for all who want it” in order to piggyback off the better known single-payer proposal. Those who desire reform but get anxious about a universal and single-payer insurance system dubbed “Medicare for All” understandably […]
The politics of public health from Obamacare to COVID
The last three presidents — Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Donald Trump — have all had to deal with health care in America. And along the way, they've clashed with how politics works in Washington D.C. This created today’s environment where the understanding of science is scorned, medical disinformation thrives and creating a nation unprepared for the next health crisis.
Where Obamacare enrollment is plummeting
Ohio, Oklahoma, Arizona, South Carolina and Minnesota have sustained some of the deepest losses.
Trump's $500 Obamacare 'rebate' checks land in prime political battlegrounds
President Donald Trump's administration is sending $500 payments to nearly 1 million Americans this week, in a move that strategists say could potentially influence races that may determine whether his Republicans maintain control of Congress in the November midterm elections.
Kennedy, Oz Contend Fraud Crackdown, Not Skyrocketing Prices, Led Millions To Leave Obamacare
Rising premiums forced many people in Affordable Care Act plans to give up their coverage. But the Trump administration claims a huge drop in enrollment is almost entirely due to its fraud crackdown.
To spotlight Trump cuts to health insurance, Welch brings Vermont lawmaker to the State of the Union
Both elected officials are striving to call attention to expired Obamacare subsidies and the high cost of health insurance they say only federal action can address.
Millions drop Obamacare health coverage after subsidies expire and costs rise
About 3 million fewer people in the United States had Affordable Care Act health insurance plans in February compared with the same time last year, according to new federal data. In the report releas...
Curing U.S. Health Care, Part II
On March 23, 2010 President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — usually referred to either as the Affordable Care Act or as Obamacare — into law. Joe Biden, then the vice president, could be overheard whispering “This is a big fucking deal.” And it was. The ACA, which went into full effect in 2014, created a system of subsidies and regulations designed to make health insurance available to many Americans who had previously been left out. It worked: In 2010 there were 47 million uninsured people in America, but by 2016 this number had dropped to 27 million. This still fell short of the universal health insurance that every other advanced nation has, but it was real progress. In 2017, during his first term, Donald Trump tried to destroy the ACA, replacing it with the American Health Care Act — legislation that would have eliminated most of the provisions that expanded health insurance under Obama. At the time the Congressional Budget Office projected that the G.O.P.’s replacement bill would nearly double the number of Americans without health insurance, increasing the total uninsured population by 23 million and undoing all of the progress achieved under the ACA. However, the attack on Obamacare failed by one vote in the Senate, and the ensuing public backlash against the G.O.P. delivered a large victory in the 2018 midterms to the Democrats. After these developments many observers assumed that the ACA had become a more or less permanent feature of American life. Such assessments, however, failed to take into account the deep hostility of the U.S. right toward policies that expand access to healthcare. As we’ll see, this hostility goes back generations. And the second Trump administration has taken actions that the CBO projects will add 16 million people to the rolls of the uninsured by 2034. How did we get here? And now what? Today’s primer will analyze the political economy of U.S. healthcare since the 1940s and the combination of danger and opportunity created by the current crisis. Beyond the paywall I will discuss the following: US health care on the eve of Trump II 80 years of US health politics The Obamacare story The new assault on healthcare
New A.C.A. Plans Could Increase Family Deductibles to $31,000
The Trump administration is proposing Obamacare plans that it says will lower health insurance premiums. But critics warn they would make care unaffordable.