Wenatchee World
February 21, 2017
An age tax, by any other name
by K.C. Mehaffey
Feb, 21 2017
NCW — An AARP advertisement published across the country over Presidents Day weekend was blunt and to the point.
“Congress-Speak: Age Rating. Truth: Age Tax,” it says in bold red-and-white letters.
The well-known American Association of Retired Persons, with a membership of some 38 million people, has taken aim at a little-known bill in Congress that would get rid of an even less-known provision of Obamacare: age ratings.
HR 708 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Larry Bucshon, R-Ind., on Jan. 27. Its title, the State Age Rating Flexibility Act of 2017,” is almost as long as its text, which is one sentence long.
If enacted, it would allow insurance companies to charge older Americans an insurance premium that’s five times as high as younger Americans. Under the Affordable Care Act, companies are limited to charging three times as much for premiums.
Reps. Dave Reichert, Dan Newhouse and Cathy McMorris Rodgers are among the federal lawmakers being targeted by the national organization.
“Call it whatever you want — the truth is, it’s an unfair tax on older workers that would line the pockets of big insurance companies,” the ad continues. “Americans over 50 could be forced to pay five times more than everyone else for the same health coverage. If this discriminatory bill passes, it means the average 60-year-old could pay up to $3,200 more a year.”
Jason Erskine, spokesman for AARP Washington, said his organization is urging its members in North Central Washington to raise the age tax issue with Reichert during a Thursday, Feb. 23, Facebook town hall meeting, along with the future of Medicare.
They also plan to meet with McMorris Rodgers’ staff on Thursday to talk about the age tax and its campaign to protect Medicare, and have been emailing Newhouse’s office to set up a similar meeting in Yakima this week.
According to the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, the Affordable Care Act removed important obstacles to health coverage for people between 50 and 64 — those years when even the healthiest among us are more likely to need their insurance.
“Prior to ACA, health insurance coverage was simply unavailable or unaffordable for millions of 50-64 year olds not yet eligible for Medicare,” an AARP news release says.
An analysis by the AARP Public Policy Institute says that average annual premiums for people between 50 and 64 years old are now between $11,300 and $14,700. That would jump to between $12,800 and $17,900 without the Obamacare provision.
The change would reduce premiums for a 21-year-old by an average of $700 a year, dropping from about $2,800 to $2,100 annually, the analysis says.
Here in Washington state, 55- to 64-year-olds made up one-third — the largest age group by far — of people who signed up for private health insurance through the state’s Health Plan Finder. Some of those plans were subsidized based on income. But for many older Americans, they were simply affordable compared with trying to get an individual plan before Obamacare was enacted because insurance companies could no longer charge five times what they charge people in their 20s.
Meanwhile, the same age group — 55- to 64-year-olds — represented only 6 percent of those who signed up through expanded Medicaid under the new rules — the smallest group.
But here in North Central Washington, it’s a significant segment of the population. Nearly one-tenth of residents in that age group are now getting their insurance through Medicaid — the government’s insurance program for low-income residents.
According to a January report put out by Gov. Jay Inslee’s Office, in Newhouse’s Congressional District 4, between 10.4 and 11.4 percent of residents between the ages of 55 and 64 years old are covered by the Medicaid. It’s almost as high in McMorris Rodgers’ District 5, where the expansion covers between 9.7 and 10.3 percent of residents. And in Reichert’s District 8, between 8.4 and 8.7 percent of residents got on the expanded Medicaid.
It adds up to nearly 27,000 older residents in the three large congressional districts, the governor’s report says.
It’s little wonder that Republicans are having a tough time deciding what pieces of Obamacare to unravel, especially when it comes to the Medicaid expansion, as this Washington Post story explains (wwrld.us/PostMedicaid).
K.C. Mehaffey: 997-2512