America


Obamacare Doomed by Soaring Premiums


Even taxpayer subsidies won’t stop Affordable Care Act from collapsing. N BY MERRILL MATTHEWS


ovember is almost here, and that means those who are qualified and enrolled, or will enroll, in the Afford-


able Care Act’s (Obamacare) Health Insurance Marketplace will have six weeks to decide if they want one of the available plans. That decision will be harder


because premiums are going up yet again by double digits. The increases, along with the swell-


ing deductibles and growing out-of- pocket exposure, raise a key question. How long before Obamacare collapses?


PREMIUM INCREASE The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and the Peterson Center on Healthcare released their preliminary assessment of next year’s premium increases show- ing a median increase of 14%. Twenty of those 77 health


insurers surveyed expect pre- mium increases of 20% or more, though the final number will depend on the health insurer. KFF notes that the 2027


increase comes after a 20% increase this year.


18 NEWSMAX | OCTOBER 2026 And the benchmark silver plan for


2026 actually rose about 26%. Thus, in two years, the aver-


age Obamacare premium will have increased by more than a third — in some cases by 40% or more.


ALTERNATIVES Half the country — workers and their dependents — gets health insurance through an employer. This is known as the group market. Another 40% are covered by a government plan: primarily Medi-


care or Medicaid. The third major source of health insurance is the individual market. That’s where the self-employed and those under age 65 who do not have access to employer coverage buy their own coverage — just like they buy their own auto or life insurance. Only about 7% of the population is


enrolled in Obamacare. Employer and government health insurance cover a person regardless of a preexisting medical condition. Historically, the individual market


Total ACA Marketplace Plan Selections During Open Enrollment, 2014-2025 Number of consumers without APTC


Number of consumers receiving Advanced Premium Tax Credits (APTC)


21.4M 1.7M


11.7M 1.7M


1.3M 8M


9.9M 6.7M 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025


SOURCE: KFF analysis of Health Insurance Marketplace open enrollment reports for 2014, 2015, and 2016 and marketplace open enrollment period


10.4M 10.1M 9.8M 9.7M 9.6M 10.2M


12.7M 2.3M


12.2M 2.1M


11.8M 2M


11.4M 1.7M


11.4M 1.8M


12M 1.9M


14.5M 1.6M


16.4M 1.6M


22.4M 19.7M 13M 14.8M


24.3M 1.9M


PATIENT/ISTOCK.COM/ADAMKAZ / MONEY/ISTOCK.COM/DIGICOMPHOTO


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