Affordable Care Act (ACA)

The Navigator program paid for experts throughout the state to help Kansans understand program eligibility and the complex systems around Medicaid and ACA

Shanice Jordan is one of the four million Texans enrolled in an Affordable Care Act health plan. But subsidies that make plans through the federal health insurance marketplace more affordable are set to expire at the end of the year — meaning Jordan and other Texans will premiums that are more than double what they currently pay.

Many Oklahomans will see health insurance rate hikes unless Congress extends expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits. Rural residents will be hit hardest, according to a researchers from the Oklahoma Policy Institute.

If the end-of-year expiration date is not extended, enhanced ACA marketplace participants will see premiums rise anywhere between $300 and $1000. Six in 10 of the respondents to a KFF poll said a $300 increase would put an unsustainable strain on their budget.

Enhanced credits for health insurance purchased from the Affordable Care Act marketplace expire at the end of this year. If they aren’t renewed, premiums will skyrocket for many people in Kansas and nationwide.

The federal funding package to reopen the government included a one-year extension of certain 2018 Farm Bill programs. Several expired Sept. 30 or would have been null by the end of the year.

About 1 million Texans with ACA health plans are over the age of 45, and many of them will pay monthly premiums that are more than $1,000.

The Affordable Care Act marketplace for health insurance opened Saturday. With an enhanced tax credit set to expire at the end of the year, Kansans face dramatically increased premiums.

Enrollment in Affordable Care Act marketplace health insurance plans begins Nov. 1. But questions about whether Congress will extend tax credits that bring down the cost of plans for many Americans linger.

As Texas develops its application for federal Rural Health Transformation Program funding, rural hospital leaders say stabilizing their facilities should be a top priority. "Without it, all the planning in the world will not matter because there will be no hospital left to transform," one said.