By Savannah Tryens-Fernandes | stryens-fernandes@al.com
More than 100,000 Alabamians are at risk of losing their health insurance if Congress doesn’t extend a set of tax credits that has drastically lowered costs.
The number of people with health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace in Alabama has nearly tripled in the last four years as more people became eligible for subsidies.
But the enhanced premium tax credits responsible for that growth are set to expire by the end of the year and are at the heart of the federal government shutdown.
“I am extremely concerned,” said Debbie Smith, campaign director for Cover Alabama, a Medicaid-expansion advocacy group run by Alabama Arise. “Since we haven’t expanded Medicaid, we rely on these tax credits a lot. It’s really been holding up our health care system as a whole. And that system is not in the best shape, but I fear that it would get a lot worse if the tax credits go away.”
KFF, a health policy research nonprofit, estimates about 130,000 people in Alabama are expected to lose their coverage if the credits aren’t renewed. And premiums for individuals enrolled in the ACA marketplace could rise by an average of 93% in Alabama.