CBO: premiums will rise 20%+ if feds stop paying subsidies

The LA Times reports the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that, “If the government stopped making the payments, insurers would respond by raising premiums by 20% to 25% over the next couple of years” which would in turn increase the federal deficit by about $20 billion per year over the next 10 years.

As we wrote in an earlier HCA post on these subsidies, known as “cost sharing reductions” or CSRs, are vital to California’s individual market, Covered California.  Around 680,000 Californians rely on CSRs  to help pay co-pays and lower deductibles.

HCA