"The country is about a month into a government shutdown with the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, still at the center of the fight. Democrats are still holding out for a deal to extend the tax credits that help people pay for health care through the ACA exchanges, warning that without those subsidies, health care costs would skyrocket for tens of millions of people, people like Lynn Chernin (ph) from Tampa, Florida."
"SUMMERS: Same goes for Chernin's friend and former colleague Laura Reynolds (ph), who also got on Obamacare this year. LAURA REYNOLDS: Amazingly enough, it almost seems to cover better medication than my own insurance I was paying almost a thousand dollars a month for. SUMMERS: Yesterday, both women were able to get a look at their estimated costs for next year on the exchanges."
"Yesterday, both women were able to get a look at their estimated costs for next year on the exchanges. And for Chernin... CHERNIN: My insurance premium would only be going up about a dollar a month. SUMMERS: Reynolds, on the other hand, was shown an estimated premium of more than $450 a month. That is a huge jump because right now, she has a $0 premium. But she says it's still doable in light of what she used to pay before Obamacare."
A month-long government shutdown centers on disputes over extending Affordable Care Act premium tax credits. Democrats insist on preserving those subsidies to prevent large premium increases for tens of millions of people. One Florida woman faced an $85,000 hospital bill after emergency gallbladder surgery and later enrolled in an ACA plan with lower premiums and copays. Another woman reports ACA coverage appears to pay for better medications and replaces nearly $1,000 monthly prior costs. Exchange estimates show one woman's premium would rise by about $1 a month while another's could jump from $0 to over $450. The shutdown also affects federal workers.
Read at www.npr.org
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