Larry Levitt

Well, as you said, Congress has left town without extending these enhanced premium tax credits.

These have been around since 2021, and they provide additional assistance to people who buy insurance on their own to make premiums more affordable.

So without these enhanced tax credits being extended, people who use the Affordable Care Act marketplace, that's healthcare.gov or state-based marketplaces, are going to see their out-of-pocket premiums more than double on New Year's Day or over $1,000 more in their premium payments.

Could Congress do something later?

They could.

I mean, there's no drop dead date here.

People are going to see these increases in their premium payments January 1st, but Congress could come back later in January, even later in the year, and extend the enhanced tax credits.

They would be retroactive to January 1st.

But with each passing day, more and more people are logging on, seeing these eye-popping premium increases, and walking away and going without insurance.

Well, it is 22 million people, and that's a lot of people.

In many ways, these people are particularly vulnerable.

They're people who don't have...

health insurance at work.

They're in jobs that don't provide health benefits.

They're not eligible for Medicaid.

They're not eligible for Medicare.

So they're on their own.

And health insurance is very expensive.

So without government help, and especially the additional government help that these enhanced tax credits have been providing, health insurance is just very expensive for these folks.

I mean, these are