Topline: President Joseph Biden’s recent decision to offer ObamaCare to some “Dreamers” will increase the federal deficit by an estimated $7 billion in the next 10 years, according to new analysis from the Congressional Budget Office.
Other proposed changes to ObamaCare could cost the federal government another $383 billion over 10 years, if enacted.
Key facts: Biden announced in May that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients — people who immigrated to the U.S. illegally as minors before June 2007 — can now get benefits from the Affordable Care Act, changing the Obama administration’s policy. The White House says this will help 100,000 people get health insurance.
That’s just a small part of the changes to the Affordable Care Act in the last few years.
In 2021, Biden’s pandemic stimulus package offered ObamaCare to more people than ever and gave existing consumers extra financial assistance.
The increased spending was supposed to end in one year, but Biden extended it to 2025. The president’s latest budget request to Congress calls for the expansion to be made permanent.
That would give ObamaCare to 6.9 million new people at a cost of $383 billion between 2025 and 2034, the CBO estimates. Half of those people would not have insurance otherwise, but the other half would enroll in ObamaCare when they could have used insurance offered by their employer, the CBO predicts.
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Supporting quote: Voter advocate Antonio Arrellano told The Texas Standard that health insurance for Dreamers “is a significant step towards dismantling the barriers that have historically prevented marginalized communities from accessing essential services. With this rule change, over 100,000 young people will gain access to vital health care services, providing overall well-being and economic security that they so desperately yearn for.”
To be clear, DACA recipients were people brought to the U.S. before turning age 16 and before June 15, 2007; they had to be under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012, meaning they could be as old as 42 this year.
Critical quote: “The ACA premium tax credit expansion needlessly spent well over $100 billion of tax dollars for a minimal reduction in the number of uninsured,” Reps. Jodey Arrington (R-TX) and Jason Smith (R-MO) wrote in a letter to the CBO. “It is particularly concerning that … some of our nation’s highest earners are now eligible for government assistance. In certain areas of the country, a family making as much as $599,000 in 2023 could qualify for taxpayer-funded subsidies.”
Summary: Affordable healthcare is one of the most important issues facing the U.S., but we need solutions that don’t increase our already-insurmountable debt.
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