The “Big, Big Bill” signed by President Trump on the 4th cuts taxes by $4 trillion, but the premiums of more than 22 million “Obamacare” policyholders who are currently receiving federal subsidies will surge by 75% from New Year’s Day next year. Health insurance policy experts say that the new bill clearly omits the extension of tax breaks to reduce people’s medical insurance premiums.
The missing tax breaks are the enhanced premium tax credits implemented in 2021, that is, through the “Affordable Care Act” commonly known as Obamacare, policyholders can use the credits to reduce premiums in advance or apply for deductions when filing taxes. These credits will expire at the end of 2025.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a nonpartisan health policy research organization, more than 22 million people in the United States have used tax credits to reduce premiums this year, accounting for about 92% of the number of Obamacare policyholders. Cynthia Cox, the organization’s program director, said that the premiums of these policyholders who originally enjoyed the tax credit will increase significantly from January 1 next year, with an average increase of 75%.
Experts said that this change has a particularly large impact on certain ethnic groups, including African Americans, Latinos, low-income people, self-employed people and small business owners.
According to an analysis by the nonpartisan policy research organization Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in November last year, under the tax credit measures, policyholders will save an average of 705 yuan per person in 2024, and the premium cost will be reduced by 44%.
Not only that, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that once the enhanced tax credit expires, 4.2 million people in the United States will not be able to afford health insurance in the next decade.
In addition, the Republicans have cut more than 1 trillion yuan in medical program spending on Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to cope with the cost of the bill, which is expected to cause nearly 12 million people to lose their health insurance, making the increase in the number of people without health insurance even worse.
The premium tax credit originated from the Affordable Care Act and was initially available to people with incomes between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty line. Former President Biden introduced the American Rescue Plan in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to an enhanced credit that expanded its scope of application. The credit was then extended to the end of 2025 under the Inflation Reduction Act.
The number of people covered by Obamacare increased from about 11 million in 2020 to about 24 million in 2025.
