A new report from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) shows that older Americans could pay upwards of $16,000 per year for healthcare coverage under the bill proposed by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Bill Cassidy, R-La..
The legislation "threatens to make healthcare unaffordable and inaccessible for millions of older Americans," the report reads. "The bill eliminates two sources of financial assistance — premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions — critical to ensuring that low-to-moderate-income older adults are able to afford the coverage they need. For a 60-year-old earning $25,000 a year, premiums and out-of-pocket costs could increase by as much as $16,174 a year if they wanted to keep their current coverage."
The AARP notes that under current law, a person that age earning that amount would pay an average of $1,608 per year for health insurance premiums in 2020. These premiums could increase in cost by over $10,000 under the Graham-Cassidy bill. In Alaska, whose senator, Lisa Murkowski, is a key vote on the issue, a person that age with that income could have their premiums increase "as much as $26,986."
The report also notes that the bill could "allow states to charge older adults age 50-64 significantly higher premiums than under current law on the basis of their age by waiving federal protections that limit the practice known as age rating."
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