Letter to the Editor: Who is wounded when ACA subsidies are allowed to lapse?
The ones who really make America great will be most wounded. In South Dakota, that’s farmers and ranchers, people who live in small towns, small business owners and their employees, caregivers, daycare providers. . . Maybe you, too?
What is a subsidy? The Affordable Care Act subsidies limit health insurance premiums to 8.5% of one’s income. In real dollars, this is how failure to make the ACA subsidies permanent would impact South Dakotans, according to Kaiser Family Foundation:
A 60-year-old couple earning $85,000 would see a 360% increase in their plan premium, rising from $602 to $2,770 per month.
A 40-year-old earning $32,000 would see a 210% increase from $58 to $180 per month.
The consequences are much bigger than the approximately 54,000 South Dakotans who have ACA insurance right now. Every community in our state is affected. We are all impacted when hospitals close, nursing homes are shuttered, pregnant women in rural areas have to drive over 100 miles for labor and delivery. Main streets empty out because long-term residents migrate to other states for work and security. At the individual level, an increase in the premiums under the Affordable Care Act will open the way for all health insurance plans to increase premiums and/or deductibles for every insured American.
We are better than this. Together, we can ensure that South Dakotans continue having access to affordable health insurance. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has promised a December vote of the full Senate on this critical issue as a part of the agreement to end the recent government shutdown. Please join us in calling our representatives in Congress. Let Senator Thune, Senator Rounds, and Representative Johnson know that we care about our neighbors’ well-being and ask that they vote to make the ACA subsidies permanent.
Senator John Thune: 202-224-2321
Senator Mike Rounds: 202-224-5842
Representative Dusty Johnson: 202-225-2801
Common Grounds Indivisible SD
