Health law sign-ups start, and some see a ‘hostile takeover’
WASHINGTON » It’s sign-up season for the Affordable Care Act, but the Trump administration isn’t making it easy — cutting the enrollment period in half, slashing advertising and dialing back on counselors who help consumers get through the process.
Many people already faced fewer choices and higher premiums. But President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel a subsidy to insurers that lowers consumer costs compounded the turmoil, pushing premiums even higher.
Add it all up and the number of uninsured people may start rising again, eroding gains that drove the uninsured rate to a historic low.
“It certainly is a hostile takeover,” said health policy expert Joe Antos of the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute. “We are going to see a decline in enrollment. The people who will drop out in droves are the ones who are not getting a premium subsidy.”
Open enrollment starts Wednesday and ends Dec. 15 in most states, a sign-up period six weeks shorter than last year’s.
Some 9 million to 10 million people currently have private plans through the ACA’s government-sponsored markets. More than 8 in 10 receive subsidized premiums, and are cushioned from rate increases. Federal help paying premiums is still available despite GOP efforts to repeal the health law.
Subsidized customers have a strong incentive to renew, but how many new people will join remains an open question. They’re vital because healthier, younger people are needed to keep rising premiums from destabilizing the marketplaces.
Already this year there was a big drop-off among consumers who buy individual coverage outside the government markets, and aren’t eligible for premium
subsidies. Their costs, however, are generally tied to rising “Obamacare” rates. A recent analysis found premiums for popular silver plans rising an average of 34 percent next year. Monthly premiums can be as a high as a mortgage payment in some cases.
Polls show widespread consumer confusion. Some are unsure if the health law has been repealed.
Trump administration officials say they’re aiming for smooth and efficient sign-ups. HealthCare. gov has new features intended to make it more user-friendly and the call center is fully staffed.
Officials say they cut ads because spending so much money wasn’t warranted, and the scaled-back counseling programs weren’t enrolling many consumers. The programs take issue with that.
Consumers who already have “Obamacare” are worried.
“It’s gone beyond what I would have called the politics of the normal,” said Elizabeth Stone, a real estate agent in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. She was diagnosed with lymphoma in her mid-20s, and with treatment has kept the cancer in check for five years. She doesn’t qualify for subsidized premiums, but without the ACA she questions if any insurer would have covered her.
“People have forgotten that everyone can get sick,” said Stone. “This battle has become so politicized that they’re not thinking of the consequences for themselves, for their friends and their families.”
Karen Vied coaches people in treatment for substance abuse. She and her husband David live in Millsboro, Delaware, a short drive from the shore.
Vied said she voted for Trump because she believed he would deal with the opioid epidemic. Now she’s scared, she says, because she and her husband rely on their subsidized ACA coverage for treatment of her rheumatoid arthritis and his heart problems. David, a marine technician, has not been physically able to work as much lately.
“I literally wonder from day to day, am I going to have insurance next month?” said Karen, who’s not yet 60. “I can’t turn around and go from paying $450 a month for premiums to $2,000. That’s just not going to happen.”
Her husband said without insurance one hospitalization could wipe out their home equity. “I’m not asking the government to give me insurance, but I am asking them to do what they need to make it affordable,” said David Vied. He voted for Hillary Clinton.
Trump’s own words leave little doubt where his administration stands.