Monthly premiums for the 1.3 million Georgians on Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplace plans will increase by an average of 85% when pandemic-era extra subsidies expire if Congress does not renew them, a new study has found.
Since Congress and President Biden passed the “enhanced” subsidies in the American Rescue Plan Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, enrollment has surged. Georgia’s enrollment went from 464,000 in 2020 to 1.3 million this year.
The study was done by KFF, a nonprofit health research organization. The ACA marketplace exchange is also known as Obamacare.
Increased advertising under Biden, and last year under Gov. Brian Kemp in Georgia, helped, but by far the driving factor both nationwide and in Georgia was the lower prices, the researchers say.
The subsidies expire in December 2025. Congress would probably have to renew them by the summer of 2025 in order for insurance companies to lock in the lower premium prices they will offer on sign-ups for plans that cover the year 2026.