Dr. Mehmet Oz casually dismissed claims that health insurance premiums are about to rise Wednesday as lawmakers on Capitol Hill sounded the alarm.
Oz, who serves as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), was asked about the looming increase in health insurance costs at an event on drug price reductions.
“Unless those tax credits, subsidies are extended, the average plan for Americans will increase by about 115 percent. Do you think Congress should extend these subsidies so that most Americans don’t get a significant premium increase?” asked the reporter, citing the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).
Oz shot back and asked where the numbers came from, before angrily claiming that KFF had mis-run the data and retracted it, which was not the case.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, pictured on October 16, demanded higher health insurance premiums
“That’s right, window shopping already shows that the average American … who is between 100 and 400 percent of the poverty level under the ACA (Affordable Care Act) will pay a total of $50 next year. That’s $13 more than this year,” Oz stated.
“There may be a lot of hair-pulling and tearing, mud-slinging, but the underlying reality for most Americans is that even though it’s an increase in costs, it’s not a big deal,” he continued.
He said the real big problem is the “fundamental flaws of the ACA.”
However, KFF did not withdraw its estimate of health insurance costs, as Oz claimed.
His comments came the same day the Trump administration released an overview of plans available through the Obamacare marketplace as enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies soon expire.
According to KFF analysis, the amount paid by health insurers for insurance in the market will increase by an average of 26 percent next year.
It found that most enrollees would face even bigger increases if the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced subsidies expire, as scheduled at the end of the year, if Congress doesn’t act.
A total of 22 million consumers out of 24 million in the market receive a tax credit that subsidizes what they pay rather than what insurers charge.
If the credits end, KFF estimates that monthly payments for subsidized students would increase by about 114 percent, or more than double.
She noted that those who no longer qualify for the financial assistance that was enacted in response to COVID and later extended will face the “double whammy” of losing the tax credit and increasing premiums.
But a news release from federal officials on Tuesday echoed Oz’s assertion that most people looking for coverage will still be able to find plans for $50 or less, even without the increased subsidies.
Oz’s comment that the increase isn’t a big deal comes on the 29th day of a government shutdown as Democrats refuse to support the GOP’s short-term spending bill unless Republicans include expiring increased health care subsidies as part of the deal.
Trump and GOP congressional leaders have insisted they won’t talk about health care until Senate Democrats cave in and vote on their bill to reopen the government, which so far hasn’t happened. Republicans have argued that there is still time to discuss health care, and it has always been on the agenda.
But Democrats are not alone in sounding the alarm about skyrocketing health insurance costs.
Although she has been a fierce critic of Obamacare, MAGA’s Marjorie Taylor Greene has also sounded the alarm that prices will soon rise. She urged her party leaders to announce their plan to solve the problem.
Open enrollment in the healthcare market begins on November 1. and continues until mid-January.