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Healthcare Premiums Are Expected To Double or Triple for Hudson Valley Residents If Trump Administration Lets Subsidies Expire
A small protest gathered at the Four Corners in Nanuet last Wednesday to rally for protection of Medicaid and ACA subsidies that make healthcare affordable for tens of thousands of people living in Rockland County and throughout the Hudson Valley. The Four Corners has become targeted by the Republican Clarkstown Town Board, which is mulling measures to restrict protesting at a site that has been an iconic protest vortex for decades stretching back to the Vietnam War.
Organized by Empire State Voices, the protest is a clarion call to Congressman Mike Lawyer and the Trump administration to renew expiring tax credits. Nationwide, more than 24 million people ensured through Obamacare risk soaring prices or being unable to afford healthcare.
Approximately 11.8 percent of Rockland County residents get health insurance through non-group plans, which fall under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace, based on a 2023 data analysis that also shows 95.5 percent of the county population is insured. Another report indicates that 25,028 people in Rockland County were enrolled in the state’s Essential Plan, a Medicaid expansion under the ACA, which represents 7.3 percent of the county’s population in that specific program.
During the 50-day government shutdown, Democratic congressman called for the restoration of the tax credits. After eight Democrats broke with their caucus, the government reopened without agreement on these expiring credits.
Lawler, during the shutdown, said he supported a one-year extension of the credits, but protest organizers were wary of how he may ultimately vote should the issue reach the House for consideration.
As part of a deal to reopen the government earlier this week, the Senate will vote on a subsidy extension by the middle of December. A straightforward extension of the subsidies, which expire at the end of this year, could be calculated and applied within a couple weeks, if passed.
But it remains unclear if there will be bipartisan consensus on a deal, let alone a clean extension, or if the House would vote on it or pass it. Open enrollment began Nov. 1 and will end, depending on the exchange, in mid to late January. In New York, the deadline to enroll in a health plan is December 15. The enrollment deadline for the federal exchange, Healthcare.gov, which covers 30 states, is Jan. 15.
