Dr. Mehmet Oz casually dismissed claims that health insurance premiums were about to skyrocket on Wednesday as lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been sounding the alarms.
Oz, who serves as administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), was asked about the looming increase in health insurance costs at an event on lowering drug prices.
“Unless those tax credits are extended, the subsidies, the average plan will increase for Americans by somewhere around 115 percent. Do you believe that Congress should extend those subsidies so that most Americans do not receive significant increases in their premiums?” a reporter asked, quoting the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).
Oz fired back, asking where the numbers had come from before angrily claiming KFF ran the data inappropriately and had retracted it, which was not the case.
“Here’s the truth, the window shopping is already revealing that the average American… who’s on the ACA (Affordable Care Act) between 100 and 400 percent of the poverty level is going to pay $50 total next year. It’s going to be $13 more than this year,” Oz declared.
“There can be a lot of hair pulling and scratching, mud-slinging, but the fundamental reality for most Americans is that although it is an increase in spend, that’s not the big issue,” he went on.
He argued the real big issue is the “fundamental flaws” within the ACA.
However, KFF did not retract its estimates on health insurance costs as Oz claimed.
His comment came the same day the Trump administration released a preview of the plans available through the Obamacare marketplace, as enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies are about to expire.
The amount health insurers charge for coverage on the marketplace will increase 26 percent on average next year, according to the KFF analysis.
It found that most enrollees would face even sharper increases if the Affordable Care Act enhanced subsidies expire as they are slated to do at the end of the year if Congress does not act.
A total of 22 million enrollees out of the 24 million in the marketplace receive a tax credit, which subsidizes what they pay, not what insurers charge.
If the credits expire, KFF estimated subsidized enrollees would see their monthly premium payments increase by roughly 114 percent, or more than double.
It noted that those who are no longer eligible for the financial assistance, passed in response to COVID and then extended, would be hit with a “double whammy,” losing both the tax credit while also having premiums increased.
However, a news release from federal officials on Tuesday reflected Oz’s claim that most people looking for coverage will still be able to find plans for $50 or less, even without enhanced subsidies.
Oz’s comment that the increase is not the big issue came on Day 29 of the government shutdown as Democrats refuse to go along with the GOP short-term spending bill unless Republicans address the expiring enhanced health care subsidies as part of the deal.
Trump and GOP congressional leaders have insisted they won’t talk health care until Senate Democrats cave and vote on their bill to reopen the government, which hasn’t happened so far. Republicans have argued that there is still time to discuss health care, and that was always on the agenda.
However, Democrats are not alone in sounding the alarms about skyrocketing health insurance costs.
While she has been a fierce critic of Obamacare, MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has also been sounding the alarms that prices are about to soar. She has been calling for her party leaders to release their plan to address the looming problem.
Open enrollment in the health care marketplace begins on November 1 and runs through mid-January.
The post Dr. Oz Makes Wild Claim About Rising Healthcare Premiums appeared first on The Daily Beast.
