Tell Congress No Bailouts for Big Insurance!

During the pandemic politicians supersized these bailouts to astronomical heights, signing up millions of people who were not willing to pay even a penny of their own money for Obamacare coverage. Now, the insurance industry is trying to make this pandemic-era taxpayer funding permanent, and liberals in Congress are obediently carrying water for them.

Tell Congress No Bailouts for Big Insurance!

Dear [Lawmaker]:

It is outrageous that many politicians in Washington have done the bidding of health insurance lobbyists and demanded another extension of COVID-emergency supersized Obamacare subsidies that are paid directly to insurance companies at a cost of up to $40 billion per year to taxpayers.

The fact is, nearly all of the so-called "coverage expansion" under the COVID bonus came from people paying exactly $0 in premiums - and the number of people with Obamacare plans who filed no claims at all has risen by nearly 8 million. The expansion puts taxpayers on the hook for insurance cards that never get used - except by insurers cashing the checks, and by shady brokers gaming the system to make commissions.

Moreover, why would Congress continue throwing money at insurance companies when we know there is a massive fraud rate?  GAO reported that 32% of all subsidy payments were on behalf of enrollees whose Social Security numbers could not be reconciled with IRS records.  They found 68,000 Social Security numbers were used by more than one person.

Research recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that subsidized plans have had premium increases almost exactly equal to the amount paid by taxpayers in recent years, while premiums in unsubsidized plans were flat.

Allowing the COVID bonus to expire by no means ends subsidies.

Analysis by the Paragon Institute shows that an average enrollee at 100% of the federal poverty level would still pay only 2% of their premiums, less than $3.50 a week for coverage; at 150% of poverty taxpayers cover 92% of premiums, all but $14 a week.  Even at double the poverty level, the subsidy remains at 81% and the enrollee would pay just $32 a week.

Why is this level of subsidy not enough for the health insurance industry, whose lobbyists are never satisfied and whose stocks have skyrocketed since the extra COVID subsidies passed?

Please respond with your commitment to OPPOSE any extension of the COVID subsidies or any other giveaways to big insurance companies.

Sincerely,
______

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