Tom Bullock

Rising ACA premiums, falling enrollment: It's a vicious cycle

The price hikes have been huge because basically a bunch of different problems are converging at once.

Rising ACA premiums, falling enrollment: It's a vicious cycle

Tom Bullock leads the Citizens Utility Board in Ohio, one of the states with the steepest increases.

Rising ACA premiums, falling enrollment: It's a vicious cycle

Bullock also blamed delays for permits and equipment, skilled labor shortages, and policies that favor older coal-burning facilities.

Rising ACA premiums, falling enrollment: It's a vicious cycle

Then there's the list of unavoidable costs.

Rising ACA premiums, falling enrollment: It's a vicious cycle

That one comes courtesy of Michael Levy with Beringa Management Consulting.

Rising ACA premiums, falling enrollment: It's a vicious cycle

The hikes cover fixing and upgrading aging equipment and broken equipment, which Levy says is a more common problem now thanks to climate change.

Rising ACA premiums, falling enrollment: It's a vicious cycle

You've also got geopolitical pressures, too.

Rising ACA premiums, falling enrollment: It's a vicious cycle

Prices went up after the war in Ukraine disrupted the global fuel supply, says Charles Hua, who leads Powerlines, which put together the report.

Rising ACA premiums, falling enrollment: It's a vicious cycle

Same problem happening now with the war in Iran.

Rising ACA premiums, falling enrollment: It's a vicious cycle

Hua says all the metrics that Powerlines measures say the utility bills are going to keep going up, at least for now.

Rising ACA premiums, falling enrollment: It's a vicious cycle

I'm Kayleigh Wells for Marketplace.

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