The first projections for Trumpcare 2019 are in: Expect rate increases of up to 30%
If anything is predictable about the vandalism of the Affordable Care Act perpetrated by President Trump and his healthcare henchmen, it’s that the costs of their handiwork will be felt by ordinary Americans for years to come.
Now, thanks to Covered California, the state’s ACA insurance exchange, we have the first estimate of what those costs will be for 2019. The bottom line is premium increases in the range of 16% to 30%.
Covered California’s report is titled “The Roller Coaster Continues.”
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Another important consideration is who will suffer most from the projected increases. It’s not the low- and moderate-income families who are insulated by federal premium subsidies, which rise as overall premiums climb. It’s families over the income limit for the subsidies, which is set at 400% of the federal poverty line. In 2018, that comes to $100,400 for a family of four.
It’s crucial to bear in mind that these are not wealthy households: Their median income is $75,000, the exchange’s report finds, compared to $66,000 for all individuals ages 19 to 64.
“The working middle class that are not getting subsidies got hit hardest in 2018 and would be hit hardest in 2019,” Peter V. Lee, Covered California’s executive director, told me.
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“Going into 2017,” the Covered California report observes, “the individual insurance markets were largely stabilizing in terms of enrollment and issuer profitability.” Yet rate increases in 2018 came in well above the core increases in medical costs. The difference was all because of Republican sabotage.
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