ICYMI: Ohioans Brace for Skyrocketing Premiums Thanks to Husted’s Health Care Crisis

ICYMI: Ohioans Brace for Skyrocketing Premiums Thanks to Husted's Health Care Crisis

October 24, 2025

WEWS: "Roughly 56,000 people in Cuyahoga County alone [get] health insurance through the exchange-insurance that the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation estimates will go up 237%"

Columbus, Ohio - An estimated 583,000 Ohioans are bracing for record premium hikes as the November 1 ACA open enrollment deadline looms and ACA tax credits are set to expire.

Senator Husted has repeatedly voted to shut down the government rather than protect affordable health care for Ohioans.

See for yourself:

WEWS: "Jaw Hit the Floor," Health Care Costs Set to Spike by 237% Across Ohio

• John Kosich: Anne Griffith of University Heights retired earlier this year to care for an aging parent-one of the tens of thousands of Northeast Ohioans who get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace. Her rates have been manageable at just over $200 a month. Because of the elimination of an enhanced premium tax credit in this summer's Republican tax bill, she estimates her out-of-pocket could jump to nearly $1,200 a month.

• John Kosich: What was your reaction when you saw the difference that this would mean?

• Anne Griffith, Ohio Voter: Jaw hit the floor. Going up to pay almost $1,200 a month is going to be very, very difficult.

• John Kosich: Aimee is right there with her. Self-employed, she's relied on the marketplace for her insurance for a decade now.

• John Kosich: Have you seen what your increases will be yet?

• Aimee Lee, Ohio Voter: I have not. I have been so scared-that's the stress. Ever since the bill came down, I just don't know. It's going to be bad. That's all I know.

• John Kosich: They are two of the roughly 56,000 people in Cuyahoga County alone getting health insurance through the exchange-insurance that the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation estimates will go up 237 percent. The tax credit they currently receive is at the center of the debate in this government shutdown. With Democrats wanting the credit restored as part of winning their vote to re-open the government.

WOIO: Thousands Across Ohio Could Lose Health Care

• Brian Duffy: Well, we know health care is a necessity - and there's a real good chance it could cost you more next year. Some of you may be paying double what you are right now.

• Nichole Vrsansky: So can anything be done? Noelle Williams spoke with state lawmakers about what they're trying to do to help you.

• Aimee Lee, Ohio Voter: "Disastrous, expensive, and malicious, wants to block my rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - I'm infuriated."

• Noelle Williams: Aimee Lee cries at the thought of losing her health care. The Beefed-up premium subsidies are set to expire at the end of this year. I spoke with the Lyndhurst woman moments after lawmakers demanded to keep the current Affordable Care Act and Medicaid in place. Lee tells me she is one of more than 40,000 people across Northeast Ohio who may not be able to afford or possibly lose their insurance.

• Dr. Arthur Lavin, Ohio Voter: If you can't pay for health care and you have diabetes, you will not get insulin. That means you could go into coma. That means you could die.

WCPO: Health Insurance Heading Up For Millions

• Kristen Skovira: Well, health care costs expected to surge next year for thousands in the Tri-State as Obamacare tax credits expire and then health insurers raise some of their rates. Health care advocates say even if you have a good plan through your employer, you might be hit with the biggest increase in 15 years. Experts say companies are asking their workers to pay as much as 6 to 7% more next year, plus additional payments with each doctor's visit.

• Health Care Expert: About 60% of employers are planning not only to increase payroll contributions, but also increasing cost sharing - so that could be copays, deductibles, coinsurances, or out of pocket maximums.

• Kristen Skovira: Meantime, 80% of families on Obamacare are expected to see premiums increase starting in January, with lower-income families seeing the biggest percentage increases.

WVXU: Analysis: Thousands of Tri-State families could face sticker shock in ACA impasse

• Millions of Americans who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchange - including many in Ohio […] - are living on pins and needles as this federal government shutdown grinds on with no end in sight.

• These are individuals and families who depend on ACA tax subsidies to be able to afford health care coverage, and who will lose that help at the end of this year if Congress does not end the stalemate soon.

• A recent national poll conducted for KFF (formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation) showed 78% of Americans support extending ACA subsides. And that support is across the political spectrum - Democrats (92%), independents (82%), and Republicans (59%). Even a majority of those who identify as MAGA supporters (57%) favor keeping the ACA subsidies.

• The people taking advantage of the ACA system are people like real estate brokers, farmers, barbers - anyone who is self-employed. There are many people, too, who retire at the age of 60, lose their employer's insurance, and have to cover the gap until they are 65 and can qualify for Medicare.

• Now, the people who use ACA subsidies to pay for health care are already getting letters in the mail warning them the subsidies may be going away soon.

• What's more, people getting ACA subsidies may soon be in for a "double whammy" that will affect all Ohioans with health insurance, according to a leading health care policy analyst.

• Brian O'Rourke, policy analyst for the Health Policy Institute of Ohio, said insurance companies operating in Ohio already are proposing plans to state regulators that have the highest rate increases since 2017.

• "The fear is that higher premiums and no ACA subsidies will just drive many people out of the system altogether,'' O'Rourke said.

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