NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — With much of the government shutdown hinging on health insurance subsidies, I wanted to see just how many Tennesseans rely on that federal funding to pay for their premiums.
At the Tennessee Justice Center, Gordon Bonnyman has spent decades working to get folks affordable health insurance.
Now he's worried people will lose coverage because enhanced federal subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year.
“You're going to force literally 4.2 million Americans to go uninsured because their health insurance is going to be unaffordable," said Gordon Bonnyman, a staff attorney for the Tennessee Justice Center.
Many people who buy their insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace get tax credits or subsidies based on their income.
During the pandemic, a secondary subsidy was added to make the premiums more affordable. It’s called the enhanced premium tax credit.
That's the federal help that's set to go away.
On top of that, health insurance costs are estimated to go up for most people.
Michael McSurdy with Family and Children's Service helps people in Tennessee sign up for health insurance.
According to McSurdy, those enhanced subsidies helped around 400,000 more Tennesseans obtain health insurance coverage, taking state totals from around 250,000 people before the pandemic to around 640,000 now.
"I think one of the worries is that we could have 400,000 fewer people insured if we went back to kind of the system that we had before," said Michael McSurdy, president and CEO of Family and Children's Service.
According to McSurdy, about 95 percent of the 640,000 people in Tennessee getting coverage through ACA rely on that enhanced help that’s set to expire.
For many people, it is the only way they can afford coverage.
"A lot of this coverage was going to the working poor, and if you're working poor, you're more concerned with your mortgage and your rent or your electric bill or making sure your kids have clothes and food," McSurdy said.
Bonnyman and McSurdy are worried that people may go without insurance if they can’t afford the plans without
“One trip to the ER is enough to put most families underwater financially. So it's a really big deal," Bonnyman said.
Meanwhile in Washington, House Speaker Mike Johnson indicated this isn't the time to have this discussion about the tax credits, urging Democrats it is about keeping the government open.
"That is not a decision that has been made until the end of the year, December 31. They're trying to bootstrap that and bring it into this very simple, very clean decision of a September funding stopgap," said Speaker Johnson, a Republican representing Louisiana.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at robb.coles@newschannel5.com.
One of the best things about Tennessee is its beauty. Reporter, Chris Davis, certainly makes the most of it as an avid hunter and fisherman. When he turned the spotlight on the potential funding shortfall the TWRA is facing - it hit a nerve with many of our viewers. To find out more, make sure to watch this story.
- Carrie Sharp
