Price increases in essentials like groceries, gas, and utility bills are hitting all Mississippi households. Now, millions of Americans – including 139,000 Mississippians– face additional budget strain or loss of health coverage thanks to a looming premium increase for those who get their health care in the ACA marketplace

Congress has the power to prevent this harm to Mississippians by extending the enhanced health insurance subsides approved during the pandemic as part of the American Rescue Plan. Those subsidies made health insurance more affordable for millions of people in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace, leading to increased coverage rates across the country.

Those subsidies, known in Congress as ACA Enhanced Premium Tax Credits, are set to expire at the end of the year. If Congress does not renew them, the overwhelming majority of Mississippians who signed up for marketplace coverage last year will either pay more for coverage in 2023 or lose their coverage entirely, according to a new report published today by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

If the increased health premium tax credits expire, 51,000 Mississippians will lose coverage, reversing much of the gain in marketplace enrollment over the last two years, according to the Urban Institute. For those who remain covered, average out-of-pocket premium increases would be steep: In Mississippi, roughly 94,000 marketplace enrollees would remain in marketplace coverage but would experience major cost increases — with premiums in some cases more than six times higher than the previous year — due to reduced subsidies. An additional 16,000 would remain insured but experience a complete subsidy loss, according to federal data.

“Congress has an opportunity to prevent price spikes and protect coverage for 3.1 million Americans by extending the enhanced premium subsidies as part of the economic legislation being negotiated in the Senate,” said Gideon Lukens, author of the new CBPP report. “These subsidies have played a key role in helping more people afford health coverage. That’s a success record to build on, not undermine through inaction.”

Examples of what people in Mississippi would pay toward their health insurance premiums should Congress fail to act include:

• A 45-year-old making $30,000 would see their annual marketplace premium more than double, rising from $984 to $2,304.
• A 60-year-old couple making $75,000 would see annual marketplace premiums more than triple, rising from $6,375 to $22,324.
• A family of four making $45,000 would have to pay more than six times their previous rate, with annual marketplace premium increasing from $342 to $2,270.