How Federal Policies are Making Health Care More Costly for Families

Most American families are very concerned about health care costs, and recent policy decisions at the federal level will increase the costs that families have to incur for health care. We discuss some of those policy decisions that are causing an uptick in the cost of health care. 

For starters, the tariffs announced by President Trump and those he is threatening to impose will make the cost of importing prescription drugs into the U.S. higher. As companies incur higher costs to bring in drugs, those additional costs will inevitably be passed on to patients and their caregivers. Given that many families are already struggling to afford their health care costs, the added cost burden due to tariffs is bound to leave millions unable to get the care they need. 

While the Big Beautiful Bill was being debated, spirited efforts were made to retain the existing enhanced tax credits on health care premiums. Those credits have existed since 2021 but are slated to expire at the end of this year. The intention of the credits was to help people who acquire health insurance on their own, such as those without employer-sponsored medical coverage plans. Unfortunately, efforts to retain these credits were defeated, and estimates show that as a result, families are likely to face 75% or higher increases to their premiums come next year and beyond. 

As if that wasn’t a big enough blow, the BBB also makes significant funding cuts to Medicaid while also imposing new reporting requirements on employment for anyone on Medicaid. Funding cuts mean someone (in this case, families) will have to incur additional costs to make up for the cuts. Estimates from the Congressional Budget Office show that about 10 million Americans will join the uninsured population by 2034 as a result of the changes contained in the BBB. 

Additionally, in June this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) completed a new rule on marketplace affordability and integrity. The stated intention for this rule is to “safeguard the use of federal funds and prevent improper enrollment.” As they say, the devil is always in the details. While the intention of this rule looks commendable on the surface, its provisions will have the net result of increasing coverage costs and shrinking enrollment by about 750,000-2,000,000 people next year alone, according to the CMS’ own projections. The reality could turn out to be worse. 

The policy decisions above (and there are many more not covered in this discussion) show that Americans and the entire health care system need to brace for tough times in the years to come. It is difficult to imagine how entities like Astiva Health that focus on providing Medicare Advantage coverage to vulnerable groups, such as racial minorities, will absorb these additional costs in a bid to minimize how much of the blow they pass on to the people they serve. 

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Astiva Health are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/Astiva 

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