Speaking in Support of Compromise Deal to End Gov Shutdown, Cantwell Highlights Impact of High Health Insurance Costs on Small Business

Speaking in Support of Compromise Deal to End Gov Shutdown, Cantwell Highlights Impact of High Health Insurance Costs on Small Business

CASE STUDY: the average ACA marketplace premium increase across all 39 WA counties is $1,049/month or $12,590/year; not extending the ACA tax credits will harm small businesses

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, joined her colleagues in imploring Senate Republicans to consider a proposal to reopen the government and extend the ACA premium tax credits by one year.

In her remarks, Sen. Cantwell referenced Tree Hill Learning Center, a childcare facility in Camas, WA, where she held a press conference in August: "We haven't shared enough stories about the small business impact and the economic impact to employers when you take affordable health insurance away from them and they don't have options. This owner lamented in the story, which should I do? Do I absorb these costs and not be a profitable business? Do I make these employees not have health insurance? Do I raise these costs and then these parents can't have the childcare that they need to stay she told me on that day that literally, some people decided to stop work because they no longer could afford childcare."

Sen. Cantwell continued: "This is ruining our whole economic picture by making insurance too expensive, by making the cost play too big a role in our economy and taking workers away from us. So, I support this one-year proposal, I support us working together to reform the system. I've championed many things in the Affordable Care Act that have driven down costs and driven down costs, and I will work with any of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to continue and expand that work, because it is important, it is important for us to continue to have affordability, particularly in health care, as we have a rising baby boomer population reaching retirement age, we have no other choice but then to focus on affordability."

Video of Sen. Cantwell's floor speech is available HERE, and transcript HERE.

At the August event Sen. Cantwell highlighted on the floor today, she had joined Southwest Washington small business owners and health insurance experts to sound the alarm about how health insurance premiums will soon skyrocket due to the budget bill passed by the GOP last month. At that time, Sen. Cantwell called on Senate leadership to take immediate action to reverse this trend upon reconvening in September. Dana Christiansen, the owner of Tree Hill Learning Center, warned, "I face the difficult decision of how much of the rate hikes -- currently at 24% -- do I take on and absorb? How much do I pass on to the employee? How much do I pass on to the families in the form of tuition increases? And most painfully, what benefits I might have to cut."

But since Republicans failed to act, last week, starting on November 1^st, insurance shoppers who purchase their own health care coverage - a group that includes small business owners like Christiansen, self-employed people, and freelancers - are being forced to lock in sky-high premium rate, or will opt to go-uninsured, due to Republicans' continued refusal to negotiate on ways to make healthcare more affordable, including an extension of the Enhanced Premium Tax Credits, which helps lower health insurance premiums for those who purchase coverage on the open market.

Last month, Sen. Cantwell released a case study showing the actual, shocking increase in health premiums for a sample middle-class family purchasing health insurance on the ACA marketplace across all 39 WA counties in real dollars: The average increase across all 39 WA counties is $1,049/month or $12,590/year.

Also last month, Sen. Cantwell also released a data analysis showing a county-by-county breakdown where of Washingtonians will be hit hardest if Republicans continue refusing to negotiate an extension of the Enhanced Premium Tax Credits. According to the data, there are seven counties where the average health insurance premium is set to more than double next year assuming the Enhanced Premium Tax Credit is allowed to lapse. All seven of these hardest-hit counties are in rural regions east of the Cascades: Yakima, Grant, Adams, Franklin, Douglas, Chelan, and Ferry counties. A one-pager on the data can be viewed HERE.

READ MORE:

• The Tri-City Herald: Health insurance could double for thousands in Tri-Cities and Eastern WA
• The Olympian: With expiring health-tax credits, here's how much premiums may rise in WA counties
• KOMO: Democrats: WA health care premiums to 'skyrocket' without key tax credit
• The Washington State Standard: Sticker shock: WA health insurance buyers confront steep price hikes

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