By Steve Crane | Editor-in-chief
“They [enhanced tax credits] really made coverage more affordable and put it in reach for a lot of Marylanders. For multiple reasons, from a financial standpoint, for our enrollees and for the state, we would certainly welcome reinstatement of those enhanced tax credits.” - Johanna Fabian-Marks, executive director for the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, on the possibility that the next Congress might restore healthcare tax credits that lapsed last December, sending the cost of insurance skyrocketing for many.
Elections are over, it’s time to get back to the mundane business of paying the bills. But paying the bills for healthcare is becoming an increasingly difficult task. Welcome back to the working week.
Open enrollment for Affordable Care Act plans began last week, but anyone looking for coverage on the marketplace is in for a shock: Premiums are up an average of 14.6% this year, after a 13.4% rise last year, which experts blame on the loss of federal tax subsidies last December. They’re holding out hope that the next Congress could reverse that action, but that won’t help people who need coverage now, as Danielle J. Brown reports.
Part of the problem is the rising cost of healthcare overall, with health spending in the U.S. rising $2.3 trillion in a decade, and little agreement on how to address the issue. That has made the problem of healthcare coverage an issue for everyone, not just low-income or uninsured families, write KFF’s Renuka Rayasam and Sam Whitehead.
Those stories, plus a look at what the lame-duck Congress faces when it returns today, along with other news and a roundup of headlines from a very busy election week are below to get you post-election week started. Enjoy!
Marylanders looking to buy private health insurance have until Dec. 31 to have coverage start in January. Those who miss that deadline have until Jan. 15 to sign up for coverage that starts in February. (Photo by Danielle J. Brown/Maryland Matters)
By Danielle J. Brown
Thousands of Marylanders face another round of sticker shock while shopping for individual healthcare plans after state officials approved a second year of steep premium increases in response to the expiration of federal tax credits that made those plans more affordable.
Marylanders purchasing health plans on the state’s insurance marketplace face an average 14.6% premium rate increase on plans offered by the Maryland Health Connection, on top of the 13.4% rate hike from last year. Healthcare advocates hope that the incoming Democrat-controlled Congress will reinstate the popular tax credit program or issue a similar relief, but any restoration of that federal assistance could be months away -- if it comes at all.
In the meantime, Marylanders have about two months to compare plans and find the one that works best given their household’s finances. State officials say there are resources available to help families weigh those options. Open enrollment started Nov. 1 and runs through Jan. 15. Those who pick a plan by Dec. 31 will start their coverage Jan. 1. Those who wait until Jan. 15 to select a plan, which will see coverage coverage start in February.
With constantly rising costs and a lack of solutions coming from policymakers, more Americans are finding themselves in medical debt, even when working and insured. (Stock photo Prapass Pulsub/Getty Images)
By Renuka Rayasam and Sam Whitehead
While healthcare costs have largely grown faster than the overall economy for decades, they’ve escalated at a dizzying pace recently. In 2023 and 2024, health spending hit its highest growth rates in two decades excluding 2020’s covid-fueled surge.
The prices that hospitals, doctors, and other clinicians charge have increased, along with how much care people are getting. Overall health spending hit nearly $5.3 trillion in 2024, up from $3 trillion a decade earlier, according to federal data. American health costs, expected to continue growing faster than the overall economy and help fuel it, are projected to hit 20% of the nation’s gross domestic product by 2032, up from just under 19% today.
At the same time, Americans are shouldering higher insurance premium payments and other out-of-pocket costs. Low-income and middle-class people with health conditions are feeling the brunt, after Congress last year decided against extending pandemic-era subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans and cut billions from other federal health programs. The result is a healthcare coverage challenge that’s not just a concern for uninsured or low-inccome Americans, but one that has “become an all-of-us issue,” one expert said.
IN OTHER NEWS
Sprint ahead for lame-duck Congress: Voters may have given Democrats control of Congress, but Republicans still control both chambers for the next two months, and they have a lot to deal with in the roughly five-week session that begins Monday.
Menhaden fight looms: A big fight over a little fish that no one eats comes to a head this week, with East Coast fishery managers set to decide whether to slash industrial-scale harvests of Atlantic menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay and along the East Coast as well.
Civil servants satisfied, sort of: State and local government workers report high levels of job satisfaction, but face significant rates of burnout and on-the-job harassment, according to a national survey of nearly 5,000 public servants across all 50 states.
MATTERS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
Democrats inching ahead in late votes: The blue wave had maybe slowed to a trickle by Friday, but the tide was still moving toward Democrats, who appeared to have ousted a GOP senator from Frederick County and gained two more seats in the House of Delegates.
Moore shuffles Cabinet: Gov. Wes Moore announced the departures Friday of the secretary of state and the heads of the departments of Public Safety and Correctional Services, and Veterans and Military Affairs, as he continues a leadership shuffle.
Sphere rolls on: Developers presented new images to show the Sphere entertainment venue in context with the surroundings at National Harbor as they sought, and won, preliminary design approval from the Prince George's County Planning Board last week.
MOST-READ STORIES OF THE WEEK
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