The potential lapse in government subsidies, which seek to lower monthly payments for patients, isn't the only reason for rising premium prices. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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One provision included in the ACA is the guaranteed issue, which requires that insurers provide coverage to anyone without factoring in their health status or age.
This is a factor that ramps up the cost of premiums, according to Sally Pipes, the president of the free-market think tank Pacific Policy Institute.
"As older patients use a lot more health care than the young and cost insurers a lot more in claims, premiums have to rise to cover their loss on the older enrollees," Pipes said in a Monday statement to Fox News Digital Monday.
Coupled with this provision is the community rating rule, which bans insurers from charging older people more than three times what they do younger people — regardless of their health status.
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This essentially amounts to a system of government price controls because it requires insurance companies to charge two people of the same age on the same healthcare plan the same premium, even if one is very healthy and the other is very sick, according to Cannon.
"That is a price floor for the healthy person, because the price can't go below whatever you charge the sick person, and it's a price ceiling for the sick person, because the price can't go above whatever you charge the healthy person," Cannon said. "And so the centerpiece of Obamacare is really just price controls, where you set the price too high in one area and too low in the other area."
Additionally, the ACA has an "essential" health benefits requirement that stipulates health insurance plans must cover certain services, including inpatient and outpatient hospital care, mental health services, prescription drug coverage and more.
Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats have been at odds over extending Affordable Care Act subsidies. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
But ultimately, Democrats got behind a short-term spending bill that does not extend these subsidies by the end of the year. Even so, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., agreed to a vote in December on legislation that would continue these credits.
The Biden administration first introduced the COVID-era subsidies under the American Rescue Plan Act passed in March 2021, which subsequently were extended the following year under the Inflation Reduction Act.
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Meanwhile, Trump has signaled he won’t back continuing the subsidies, and said in a Tuesday social media post that Congress shouldn’t "waste" its time on negotiating an extension.
"THE ONLY HEALTHCARE I WILL SUPPORT OR APPROVE IS SENDING THE MONEY DIRECTLY BACK TO THE PEOPLE," Trump said in the post.
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/obamacare-sticker-shock-three-factors-pushing-premiums-record-highs