{"id":267,"date":"2026-05-26T18:10:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T18:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=267"},"modified":"2026-05-26T18:10:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T18:10:30","slug":"the-aca-affordability-crisis-congress-wont-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=267","title":{"rendered":"The ACA Affordability Crisis Congress Won\u2019t Fix"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pennsylvania bike shop <\/span>ownerJohn Ronca has been buying health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace for over a decade. Last year, with enhanced ACA tax credits enacted under the Biden administration, the premiums for his gold plan\u2014the second-highest tier, which includes lower deductibles and often more flexibility in seeing specialists\u2014tripled. Ronca decided to go for a bronze plan with a higher deductible to make sure he, his wife, and his young daughter were still insured. Now he\u2019s putting off surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome because he can\u2019t afford to pay for it in full. His family\u2019s combined deductible is $14,000.<\/p>

Read more Republican-Appointed Judges Just Gave the Roberts Court a Stunning Rebuke<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI was really hoping to have that taken care of, but with the new deductible and the new plan, I\u2019m pretty much pushing that off,\u201d Ronca told me, \u201cand owning the bike shop, my hands are my money makers.\u201d <\/p>\n

Americans are facing an affordability crisis, and health care costs are a major contributing factor. According to a new report from the nonpartisan health policy organization KFF, the average ACA marketplace deductible grew by about $1,000 per person, or around $3,000 per family, since 2025. That\u2019s in part because families like the Roncas are switching to lower-tiered plans with higher deductibles as the premiums for platinum, silver and gold plans become simply unattainable. It\u2019s an unsurprising response, says KFF senior policy analyst Emma Wager, but it comes with a risk.<\/p>\n

Families who switch are taking a chance \u201cbased on the fact that they\u2019re assuming that they\u2019re healthy, and that their family is healthy, and they won\u2019t need that much care,\u201d Wager says, \u201cbut they\u2019re not all going to be correct about that for the coming year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, for example, when Ronca\u2019s daughter had an infection and abscess in her lip, the required procedure ended up costing his family more than $2,000.<\/p>\n

Already on a bronze ACA plan for his family, Iowa-farmer Seth Watkins seriously considered forgoing health insurance for himself this year so that his wife and two children\u2014both adults under the age of 26\u2014could better afford it. Their combined deductible this year is around $20,000.<\/p>\n

When Watkins\u2019 family had employer-provided insurance through his wife\u2019s job as a teacher, getting an X-ray was easy. Now, he says, there\u2019s always a debate as to whether or not it\u2019s worth it, cost-wise, and whether insurance will even cover it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Congress had to have a Bronze ACA plan,\u201d Watkins tells me, \u201cThey would not like it one bit. It would change immediately.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Tax Me If You Can<\/a><\/p>\n

Anthony Wright, the executive director of Families USA, a nonprofit pushing for health care reforms that benefit everyday people, told me that the premium spike is causing a \u201chuge health care affordability crisis\u201d and will continue to until enhanced tax credits\u2014an extension for which passed the House in January, but the specific proposal died before it could be voted on in the Senate, a fault of Republicans\u2014are restored.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the added pressure of Medicaid work requirements, which serve in part to push more people\u2014often those who already work, but cannot afford insurance\u2014into the marketplace.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have a dramatic [increase] in the people who are uninsured and also underinsured,\u201d Wright said, \u201cand that\u2019s going to put strain on the health care system that we all depend on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watkins is very concerned about how his local hospital will fare under those circumstances, and about the effects of health crises on people like family farmers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur politicians like to say that farmers and independent business people are the backbone of our economy,\u201d Watkins says. \u201cThey are doing this and breaking our backs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ronca is in full agreement with Watkins as a fellow small business owner. \u201cNow you\u2019ve got a ballroom coming, we\u2019re in a war that\u2019s billions of dollars,\u201d Ronca said, \u201cbut no one talks about what we need\u2014healthcare.\u201d<\/p>

Read more The Pentagon Could Name Thousands of Unknown Soldiers. Families Want to Know Why It Hasn\u2019t.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deductibles are up an average of $1,000 per person and families are gambling on staying healthy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nThe ACA Affordability Crisis Congress Won\u2019t Fix - Moving and Mortgage Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=267\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The ACA Affordability Crisis Congress Won\u2019t Fix - Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Deductibles are up an average of $1,000 per person and families are gambling on staying healthy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=267\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-26T18:10:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/db7394a36cf16aa612af7ec93c1e9b69.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1124\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=267#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=267\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2\"},\"headline\":\"The ACA Affordability Crisis Congress Won\u2019t Fix\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-26T18:10:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=267\"},\"wordCount\":698,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=267#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/e9218a1f04191dc7723f6198127132c4.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=267#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=267\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=267\",\"name\":\"The ACA Affordability Crisis Congress Won\u2019t Fix - 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