Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Affordable Care Act

Colorado Health Insurance Rates Rise 10% Statewide and 15.5% in Mesa County
The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Health Insurance Rates Rise 10% Statewide and 15.5% in Mesa County

By John Ingold | The Colorado Sun State and federal subsidies, though, will blunt the price increases for people with lower incomes. If you buy health insurance on your own without help from an employer — and without receiving subsidies from the state or federal government — this will come as unwelcome news: Prices for coverage next year will increase by an average of 10% across the state and by even more if you live in the mountains or on the Western Slope. The state Division of Insurance announced the price increases Tuesday, pinning blame for the rising rates in part on Congress’ refusal to extend some price subsidies last year. Rising healthcare and prescription drug costs are also to blame. Colorado somewhat made up for the loss of the enhanc...
More Than 40,000 Coloradans Impacted As Cigna Leaves Individual Market
The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

More Than 40,000 Coloradans Impacted As Cigna Leaves Individual Market

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette Another firm is withdrawing from the individual health insurance market, including for Colorado, effective Jan. 1, 2027. The move by Cigna Healthcare is part of the company’s overall plan to withdraw entirely from the Affordable Care Act market. It will impact individual health plans for 369,000 members in 11 states, according to a company announcement on April 30. In Colorado, Cigna provides individual health insurance to 40,853 members, according to the the state’s insurance office. Cigna joins five other insurers that have pulled out of Colorado since 2022. That doesn’t include two insurers that announced they were withdrawing from the individual market last year but rescinded that announcement two months later. ...
Oz Warns Millions Of Obamacare Enrollments ‘May Not Be Legit’
Breitbart, Approved, National

Oz Warns Millions Of Obamacare Enrollments ‘May Not Be Legit’

By Nick Gilbertson | Breitbart News As many as 35 percent of enrollments in the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare,” might “not be legit,” according to the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Dr. Mehmet Oz. Oz laid out the eyebrow-raising projection during Tuesday’s White House press briefing while filling in for press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is out on maternity leave. https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/2061869210574143620?s=20 When asked about expired Obamacare subsidies and whether there are any policy adjustments he would like to see, Oz emphasized that the number of people on Obamacare has more than doubled over the last decade. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT BREITBART NEWS
FRAUD ALERT: Millions of People in Zero Premium Obamacare Plans May Have Never Signed Up
Just The News, Approved, National

FRAUD ALERT: Millions of People in Zero Premium Obamacare Plans May Have Never Signed Up

By Amanda Head | Just The News Obamacare abused by brokers to sign up millions for healthcare without their consent or knowledge. As a result, insurance companies reaped windfall profits, at the expense of taxpayers. In exchange for gift cards, millions of Americans were unwittingly signed up for Obamacare by brokers who scalped their vital information and enrolled them in plans where premiums were paid by the American people, a research group says.   "The government was sending massive checks to insurance companies who were making windfall profits on behalf of people who didn't use any health care," Brian Blase, president of Paragon Health Institute, a healthcare policy group told Just The News. A 2021-2022 expansion of Affordable Care Act subsidie...
17 Republicans Break Ranks to Advance Jeffries Led Obamacare Extension
The Daily Signal, Approved, National

17 Republicans Break Ranks to Advance Jeffries Led Obamacare Extension

By George Caldwell | The Daily Signal The House of Representatives passed a three-year extension of COVID-19-era premium tax credits on Thursday, as a group of Republicans defied House leadership to back the Democrat-led measure. The extension passed by a 230-196 margin, with 17 Republicans joining 213 Democrats in voting for a policy which Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and the majority of the House Republican conference has opposed for months. Five Republicans did not vote. A group of moderate Republicans joined Democrats to successfully control the floor and pass the legislation.  READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE DAILY SIGNAL
When caps don’t cap costs
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

When caps don’t cap costs

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice A familiar promise, a familiar frustration Voters are often told that a policy includes a built-in safeguard — a cap, a limit, a hard stop designed to keep costs under control. In Colorado, that promise came with the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, approved by voters in 1992 as a constitutional amendment limiting how much revenue state and local governments can keep and spend without voter approval. Nationally, it appeared in the Affordable Care Act’s limits on how much of each insurance premium can be kept for administration and profit under the law’s medical loss ratio rules. The two systems regulate very different things. One governs government revenue, the other private insurance markets.  But cr...
ACA Subsidy Expiration Triggers Major Premium Hikes for Millions
Scripps News, Approved, National

ACA Subsidy Expiration Triggers Major Premium Hikes for Millions

By Haley Bull | Scripps News Enhanced subsidies created during pandemic will end after Congress fails to extend them, with experts predicting 114% average premium increases. Millions of Americans will face higher healthcare costs starting January 1, 2026, as enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies expire after Congress failed to extend them. The subsidies, which were enhanced during the pandemic and later extended, will end after lawmakers could not reach a consensus on an extension or new healthcare policy. Experts predict premium increases for many Americans who purchase insurance through the ACA marketplace. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates annual out-of-pocket premium payments for subsidized enrollees will increase by an average of 114%, though the exact ...
Fake Identities Still Approved for Obamacare Subsidies, Watchdog Warns of Systemic Failures
Just The News, Approved, National

Fake Identities Still Approved for Obamacare Subsidies, Watchdog Warns of Systemic Failures

By Nicholas Ballasy | Just the News "We were able to get subsidized insurance for fake enrollees. We also found some issues with enrollees' Social Security numbers that could indicate identity fraud. The program's fraud risks were last assessed in 2018, even though the program and its risks have since evolved,” the GAO reported A newly released report from the Government Accountability Office reveals that “fraud risks in the advance premium tax credit (APTC) persist,” despite earlier warnings and reforms.  The APTC is a “subsidy that the government pays to insurance companies to make premiums more affordable for eligible Americans under the Affordable Care Act.” CMS paid nearly $124 billion in APTC in 2024 alone, covering about 19.5 million enrolle...
Insurers Made Billions Off Obamacare’s Secret Taxpayer Surplus
Just The News, Approved, National

Insurers Made Billions Off Obamacare’s Secret Taxpayer Surplus

By Steven Richards | Just the News Subsidies were greatly expanded by the Biden administration during the COVID-19 pandemic as an emergency measure, but Democrats have fought to keep them permanent. Those subsidies went mostly to Democratic donors. The 42-day federal shutdown forced by Democrats thrust the economics of Obamacare into the limelight, and exposed an uncomfortable truth: An insurance industry whose executives are increasingly liberal donors has seen its earnings soar with the injection of taxpayer-funded subsidies that propped up Barack Obama's signature health program from collapse. The nation’s largest health insurance companies have seen good business since Obamacare was first passed in 2010 and fully implemented in 2014. This has come in no small part because of...
The cost of obedience: How Colorado’s senators strengthened economic malfeasance
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

The cost of obedience: How Colorado’s senators strengthened economic malfeasance

By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice It is both sad and disappointing that Colorado’s two U.S. senators are incapable of independent thought. As the simple puppets of their overlords, they have selfishly voted fifteen times NOT to reopen the federal government—even though their “no” votes hurt the Coloradans they supposedly represent.  Colorado was already struggling economically before the federal shutdown.  Between January 2023, the start of the post-COVID economy in the U.S., and August 2025, job creation in Colorado had been growing at less than half the national rate and unemployment was growing at around twice the national rate.  How state unemployment changed since January 2023: Colorado up 58.5% vs U.S. 28.5%. How ...