After health insurance subsidies end, 30,000 Idahoans will be uninsured, government report says

After Congress failed to extend deeper subsidies for Americans' health insurance, an estimated 30,000 more Idahoans who had insurance are likely to be uninsured this year.

That's according to a report from Your Health Idaho, the state's insurance exchange. The report highlights how Idaho's health insurance market has changed this year — as consumers face premium hikes from insurance companies and Congress's decision to let enhanced premium tax credits expire.

In the months since open enrollment, when people can pick health insurance plans, about 24,400 people disenrolled from health insurance plans on the exchange. That's a big shift since last year, when just under 16,000 people had their plans canceled later. Your Health Idaho Executive Director Pat Kelly said the figures are among many that show affordability is a key concern this year.

"We hope that the 24,000 is the end of it," Kelly told the Idaho Capital Sun on Wednesday.

"All the way through open enrollment, affordability really permeated all the decisions that we saw," he added, listing out a range of shifts this year, like more people buying cheaper health insurance plans, and more people canceling plans.

The cancellations leave Idaho's health insurance exchange, a common option for people whose jobs don't offer insurance, with 3.6% less enrollees than it had last year.

For those who still have insurance on the exchange, it's often getting more expensive. Your Health Idaho's report found that the share of Idahoans who are paying more than $300 a month in premiums rose by 13%, while the share of Idahoans who are paying $100 or less fell by 19%.

When open enrollment ended in December, Kelly said it'd likely take until April for enrollment to settle after cancellations. Part of that is because of consumer protections, he explained. There are grace periods before consumers' plans are terminated for nonpayment, which can take up to 90 days for renewed customers. Kelly said he isn't sure how many of the cancellations were by insurers, or by consumers.

"We're thrilled that Idahoans understand the value of having health insurance, and we're still concerned about the affordability impacts on the market," Kelly said.

What are the enhanced premium tax credits?

In Idaho, the enhanced premium tax credits reduced premiums by an average of $407 each month, according to the nonpartisan health policy group KFF. About 87% of Idahoans who have insurance through the state exchange received the credits, according to a report by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

"Idaho is about to be ground zero for a national health care affordability crisis — not because Idahoans did anything wrong, but because Republicans in Congress refuse to act," Ada County Democratic Party Chair Jared Deloof told reporters at a news conference in December near U.S. Sen. Jim Risch's office in downtown Boise.