Obama and Democrats: Health insurance bills could be hardship for many

admin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 12:57:16 +0000

WASHINGTON – Many middle-class Americans would still struggle to pay for health insurance despite efforts by President Barack Obama and Democrats to make coverage more affordable.

The legislation advancing in Congress would require all Americans to get insurance — through an employer, a government program or by buying it themselves. But new tax credits to help with premiums won’t go far enough for everyone. Some middle-class families purchasing their own coverage through new insurance exchanges could find it out of reach.

Lawmakers recognize the problem.

“For some people it’s going to be a heavy lift,” said Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del. “We’re doing our best to make sure it’s not an impossible lift.”

Added Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine: “We have no certainty as to whether or not these plans are going to be affordable.” Both are on the Senate Finance Committee, which finished writing a health care bill on Friday.

A new online tool from the Kaiser Family Foundation illustrates the predicament.

The Health Reform Subsidy Calculator provides ballpark estimates of what households of varying incomes and ages would pay under the different Democratic health care bills. The legislation is still a work in progress and the calculator only a rough guide. Nonetheless, the results are revealing.

A family of four headed by a 45-year-old making $63,000 a year is in the middle of the middle class. But that family would pay $7,110 to buy its own health insurance under the plan from the committee chairman, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.

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Obama and Democrats: Health insurance bills could be hardship for many

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