Health insurance costs to soar 65% for some Washington families, lawmaker warns

U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier warned this week that health insurance costs will soar for countless Washington families. 

At a Tuesday news conference at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, the Washington Democrat noted that many constituents are concerned about the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s steep cuts to Medicaid, which provides health care coverage for low-income people.

She said some don’t realize that when Democrats held the majority in Congress, they kept insurance premiums for those on Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans at 8.5% of their income. But her Republican colleagues opted against renewing that premium cap. 

That means ACA-insured Washington residents will see their rates balloon by 65% on average, Schrier said. So, someone paying $10,000 a year for health insurance now will be shelling out $16,500. 

Schrier added that she’d also heard stories of insurance rates doubling.

Those getting help purchasing ACA plans off the marketplace will see their insurance rates go up, she said, but so will everyone else. Even people who work for big organizations like Microsoft could feel the pinch. 

“When insurance rates go up, employers pay part, and employees pay part,” said Schrier, who’s also a pediatrician. “And we are all going to feel the pain from this.” 

For months, Washington Democrats like Gov. Bob Ferguson have warned that the federal tax and policy law will lead hundreds of thousands of residents to lose health insurance. They’ve decried the bill, which delivers sizable tax breaks to the wealthy, as “morally bankrupt” and “cruel.”

At the same time, Republicans have largely defended the far-reaching legislation, lauding its Medicaid shifts as necessary reforms to combat waste, fraud and abuse. 

If young healthy families see their premiums rise by 65%, they may decide against buying insurance altogether, Schrier said. And insurance companies understand that they’ll be left covering a population that’s sicker and costs more. 

“They need to make sure that they can afford to pay that — and everybody’s insurance rates go up,” she said. 

Some projections show that the state’s 5% uninsured rate will at least double. 

Dr. David Zonies, Harborview’s chief medical officer, said Tuesday that the ACA has helped patients receive preventative care outside of the hospital. But when people delay that care because they’re uninsured, they may ultimately wind up at the ER when they get to sick to ignore their symptom. 

Zonies also expects longer wait times and delayed access to specialty services — leading to worse patient outcomes. 

“I think patients and citizens need to understand this will have a direct impact,” he said. “No one is immune from this.” 

Freelance consultant Rebecca Staffel and her husband, the owner of a small bicycle shop, are insured under the ACA. She estimates that federal changes will result in her household paying $22,000 per year for health insurance, up from $6,000 per year today.

Staffel told reporters Tuesday that she and her husband will need to decide between going on the most catastrophic plan or going without, “which is a scary thing to contemplate.” 

Ingrid Ulrey, CEO of the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, said her organization recently notified 5,000 of its 280,000 customers that they may soon see huge price hikes. 

If Congress fails to extend the enhanced premium tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of the year, certain Washingtonians will be disproportionately harmed, including rural residents, Ulrey said. Some will cross their fingers that nothing goes wrong until they age into Medicare, the federal health insurance program for those 65 and older. 

Congressional Republicans did include the Rural Health Transformation Program in the One Big Beautiful Bill, which provides $50 billion to rural hospitals over five years. However, certain health experts contend that the amount doesn’t go nearly far enough in supporting rural hospitals amid the law’s significant health-care cuts. 

Ulrey said Congress needs to act quickly to extend a “tax credit that’s working, and that basically protects the right of people to purchase private health insurance” across Washington.

“If that is undermined, we are worried about the stability of our market and the ability of people who fall through the cracks to continue just to purchase the coverage they need,” she said.