Most people who get their health coverage through the Affordable Care Act say they face sharply higher costs, with many worried they will have to pare back other expenses to cover them, according to a poll released Thursday. Some are uncertain whether they will be able to continue paying their premiums all year.
Still, 69% of those enrolled last year signed up again this year, often for less generous coverage. About 9% said they had to forgo insurance, according to the survey by KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.
The KFF poll revisited the people who responded to a November KFF survey of Affordable Care Act enrollees during open enrollment for ACA plans.
Steve Davis, a 64-year-old retired car salesman in Rogersville, Tennessee, who participated in both polls, said he was looking at an annual premium of about $14,000 to renew his ACA coverage this year. He didn’t qualify for enough of a tax credit to defray the cost, he said, after Congress gridlocked on an extension of more-generous subsidies put in place under President Joe Biden.
But things worked out for Davis. He landed a job at a convenience store that came with insurance, with his share costing about $100 more a month than the $300 he paid for an ACA plan last year, before the enhanced tax credits expired.
“As it happened, the Lord provided and my insurance kicked in through my employer,” he told KFF Health News.
In the November survey, many r …