LEILA FADEL, HOST:
It's open enrollment time for people who have to buy health insurance on their own through HealthCare.gov, and that's about 24 million Americans. Coming up, we'll speak with Democratic Senator Ron Wyden about the debate in Congress over extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at the end of the year.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
First, let's get an overview over where things stand on what's also known as Obamacare with Julie Rovner. She's the chief Washington correspondent with our reporting partner KFF Health News. So, Julie, people can shop for their health insurance, but the price they're seeing may not be final. Why is that?
JULIE ROVNER: That's right. You know, there always been tax credits to help people afford their coverage on the Affordable Care Act health exchanges. In 2021, Congress made those tax credits much larger because they were concerned during the pandemic that more people should have health insurance, and it really worked. It doubled enrollment in the Affordable Care Act. Well, those extra subsidies are set to expire at the end of December. Congress is still fighting over whether to extend them. So people who are getting on the internet now and looking at the prices are seeing the un- or un-extra-subsidized...
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
ROVNER: ...Prices, which in many cases are much, much larger. But we still don't know if Congress is going to extend those additional subsidies, which would bring those prices down.
MARTÍNEZ: So you said Congress is still fighting over this. How likely politically, though, is it that Congress will actually act?
ROVNER: Well, we will see. In the fairly near future, the Senate has promised a vote to Democrats in order to get them to reopen the government. That's set for no later than the end of next week. Republicans, though, are still scrambling to have something to offer as an alternative.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, when it comes to that alternative, what is it? Do they have a plan?
ROVNER: A lot of Republicans have plans, but they're not all on the same page. In fact, we saw early last week, President Trump floated a plan that would have extended the subsidies temporarily. And that met with a big backlash, and he backed off. And you've got, you know, some Republicans saying we shouldn't be giving any kind of tax credits or subsidies to insurance companies. We should give the money directly to individuals. Economists say that's not going to help most people pay their health bills, even if they have kind of a minor health ailment. So Republicans, as they have been for the last 20-some years, are divided over how to proceed.
MARTÍNEZ: So what are the takeaways, then, for people who need to buy health insurance in these ACA marketplaces?
ROVNER: Well, we're looking at a pretty hard deadline. If you want to have insurance starting January 1, you have to select a plan by December 15, which is obviously just two weeks away. You know, many - there are many ways to sort of calculate what your premiums would be without these additional tax credits and what they would be if, for some reason, Congress actually manages to extend them. But right now, it's pretty hard for the average consumer to figure out what to do because it's pretty hard for us political reporters to figure out what we should be doing.
MARTÍNEZ: Two weeks away, though - I mean, that's not a lot of time. I mean, what are the odds Congress even acts before then?
ROVNER: It seems unlikely Congress will act before then. However, if Congress does eventually act and extends the tax credits, then there will be an opportunity for people who have selected plans to go in and sort of select a new plan. Maybe they're going to shop - you know, they'll select a cheaper plan for next year because that's all they can afford. And if the tax credits get extended, they might be able to afford something more akin to what they have now, and they will be able to go back and change it. In most states, open enrollment doesn't end until January 15. And obviously, if Congress makes some changes, they can also extend that open enrollment again. So people shouldn't panic as much as...
MARTÍNEZ: OK.
ROVNER: ...They may be panicking now.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent with our partner KFF Health News. Thanks a lot.
ROVNER: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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