Mom of 2 on rising ACA premiums: 'It feels like, what American dream?'
Briana Vasquez, a mother of two who lives in California, said she anticipated her Affordable Care Act health insurance premiums would go up after she and her husband got married this year and she had to claim his income. But she said she wasn't expecting just how much higher they would be without the enhanced tax credits, too.
Vasquez told ABC News she currently pays about $282 a month for health insurance through ACA health care coverage for her and her two children. She said she would pay $1,003 a month for the same plan next year, when the enhanced tax credits expire.
"It feels never-ending, and it feels like, what American dream?" Vasquez said. "Paying more for everything, that doesn't feel like a dream to me, really."
Vasquez said she has bad asthma and Hashimoto's disease, an autoimmune disorder that affects the thyroid gland, and needs her insurance for medications for both.
Vasquez, who is training to be a high school teacher, said she makes about half of what a teacher makes through a training stipend. She said she isn't eligible for employer benefits while training, and that it would cost more than the ACA premiums for the family to all be on her husband's insurance plan.
She said she and her husband, who is a teacher, will likely have to dip into their savings to pay the higher health insurance premiums until she starts making a full salary.
"We're lucky for that," Vasquez said about their savings, but noted she does not want to dip into that account. "That's for if one of us gets hurt and can't work, or if our car breaks down."
The family may also reevaluate her husband's plan during open enrollment and see how the costs break down for adding family members, she said.
The enhanced premium tax credits are set to expire for ACA enrollees on Dec. 31. A recent analysis from KFF found that if they expire, ACA enrollees will see their monthly premiums more than double -- rising by roughly 114% on average.
The ongoing federal government shutdown has prevented Congress from voting to reauthorize the ACA premium tax credits. There have been over a dozen failed votes in the Senate to reopen the government. Democrats have refused to vote on a short-term funding bill that doesn't address the issue of extending the ACA subsidies, and Republicans have said they won't address the issue without Democrats first voting on a bill to reopen the government.
Vasquez said she thinks Congress shouldn't be getting paid, like other federal workers, during the shutdown. (Some have voluntarily passed on their salaries in solidarity.)
"Maybe that would light a fire under their butts and get something done and negotiate and take those proper measures," she said.
Vasquez believes that Congress will eventually get something passed, but it will take a mental toll on American families.
"It's a mind game, right where it's like, ‘We're just going to loom it over you, and then at the last minute, we'll pass something,'" she said. "That still affects families because we know that that's a possibility always, now."
Her message to Congress was to put themselves in the shoes of everyday Americans and realize skyrocketing health insurance premiums could really debilitate families.
"I hope families get through this, you know, especially coming up on the holidays. I think it's really daunting," Vasquez said. "I guess to all the other families out there, I hope you weather this storm, too, and I hope we're not just thrown to the side."
