Expiring ACA credits

Much ado has been made about the massive increases in health care premiums facing people enrolled in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Nationally, premiums are expected to rise about from roughly $8325 this year to nearly $10,000 next year – about 18% overall. News media largely blames the increases on the loss of expanded COVID-era ACA credits as a result of the government shutdown, and fails to report that the vast majority of ACA enrollees will pay nowhere near the total premium because they will still receive base ACA credits.

But the fact is that the shutdown driven loss of those expanded credits accounts for just 20% of the anticipated increase, and less than four percent of the anticipated overall 2026 premium. According to health care provider rate filings, the other 80% of the increase (about 13.5% of the total 2026 premium) is due to other factors such as higher medical utilization, inflation, health care consolidation, and surging costs for expensive drugs.

In the end, it is genuinely problematic that increases will negatively impact ACA enrollees in Colorado and across the nation, but it is useful to look past the hyperbole and understand the real reasons for those rising rates, especially the relatively small contribution of the expiring credits.

Kevin Curry

Peyton

A health care emergency

With the cost of everything from housing to utility bills to groceries going up, the last thing America’s families can afford is more expensive health care. But when open enrollment starts,, millions of families are about to learn that their health care costs have surged.

We’re in a health care emergency that is a result of policy choices made by Republican leaders in Congress. Over the summer, Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress slashed over $1 trillion from Medicaid, terminating coverage for 15 million people. Now, they are cutting tax credits that lower health care costs for millions of working families, and 24 million of us are facing skyrocketing health care premiums.

Instead of working to lower health care prices, Republicans in Congress have doubled down, shuttering the government because they are unwilling to negotiate to stop these cuts. While families brace for rising costs and lack of care, Trump, Republicans in Congress, and their billionaire besties have prioritized millions of dollars in funding for a gilded ballroom at the White House, tax breaks for the wealthy, and private jets for Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. As they slash funding for health care, Trump and Republicans in Congress have poured funding into separating families, committing human rights abuses, and terrifying hardworking immigrants — people essential to our health care workforce, our economy, and our future. This is nothing short of a health care heist and a betrayal of American families.

Congress has a clear path to prevent this health care crisis by restoring health care funding, making the ACA tax credits permanent, and ending the government shutdown. It’s time for Republican leaders in Congress to work together to stop the health care heist and make sure prices don’t go up even more.

Aaron Hudson

Westminster

One of the best presidents

The letter from David J. Baker entitled “A temporary White House occupant” asserts the White House isn’t Domald Trump’s to renovate when other presidents have made changes.

President Obama added a basketball court. Baker states that the White House does not need a ballroom, but that was a decision made many decades ago. At no cost to the taxpayers, Trump is constructing a new ballroom that will allow events with many more guests instead of having to meet outside. No doubt that the old bunker under the ballroom is also going to be renovated to improve national security.

Whereas Baker’s historians have supposedly named Trump as one of the country’s worst presidents, Trump’s accomplishments in promoting peace in Isreal and this week in Asia are more indicative of Trump being one of the best presidents in modern times.

Linda L Elsberry

Colorado Springs

What did you expect?

Re: The “inevitable” loss of professional baseball in Colorado Springs.

Well. What did you expect? Since the Rocky Mountain Vibes began in Colorado Springs in 2019, there has been little media coverage.

Local television sports news never once reported games, scores, standings, nor anything about the Vibes or the Pioneer League.

Neither did the Gazette. Not even box scores. The Gazette never even published the Vibes game schedules. Although all Denver teams, the Switchbacks, and even national sports teams get very in-depth coverage.

Letters to the Editor, and contacts to the Sports Desk, about this state of affairs were seldom published and never answered.

So why should anyone be surprised that the Sky Sox left or that the Rocky Mountain Vibes have closed operations?

Marge Baker

Colorado Springs