State Marketplace Network Sounds Alarm on Potential Loss of Health Coverage

BOSTON ­— The congressional reconciliation bill and loss of federal tax credits would result in 16 million Americans losing health coverage, including 8.2 million enrolled in health insurance marketplaces, according to the State Marketplace Network, a collective of 22 state-based health insurance marketplaces across the country.

The loss of millions of covered lives from the marketplaces will cause healthcare to be more expensive and harder to access, create a strain on healthcare systems, and hurt small businesses, the network claims.

At a recent virtual press conference, leaders from across the country detailed the impacts on access to private health insurance from the reconciliation bill passed last month by the House of Representatives. Combined with the looming expiration of federal tax credits at the end of the year, they say, these changes would sharply increase the uninsured rate, damage healthcare delivery, and increase costs in every community across America.

Today, a record 24 million Americans get their private health insurance through the marketplaces, and an estimated one in seven Americans have depended on the marketplaces for coverage at some point during the 12 years since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted.

“The reconciliation bill passed by the House would make it significantly more difficult for people in marketplace coverage across the country and here in Massachusetts to get and keep health coverage,” said Audrey Morse Gasteier, executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector. “These provisions would make our residents sicker and less financially secure, unwind historic gains in health coverage, and strain an already-burdened healthcare delivery system.”