A top House lawmaker and his constituents argued over who is to blame for rising Obamacare premiums in North Carolina.
Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., said at a town hall in Alamance County Tuesday the state’s lone Obamacare insurer request for a rate hike of nearly 23 percent next year is evidence the law is failing.
“Their rates and premiums are going up 22, 23 percent,” he said.
However, some of his constituents quickly shouted that premiums would only go up about 9 percent if President Trump guaranteed Obamacare’s insurer subsidies next year.
“Don’t lie to us,” one person shouted at the lawmaker.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina is the only Obamacare insurer on the individual market, which is for people that don’t get insurance through their employer.
The company said the premium hike would only be 9 percent if the Trump administration committed to paying cost-sharing reduction reimbursements in 2018.
Obamacare requires insurers to lower copays and deductibles for low-income customers and the government reimburses them. If insurers don’t get that funding, then they still have to lower the copays and deductibles.
Insurers have said if they don’t get the payments they will either leave Obamacare or raise prices.
Walker also defended the American Health Care Act from an updated estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Walker was among the House Republicans who voted for the bill last month, allowing it to pass the lower chamber.
Walker chairs the Republican Study Committee, a collection of about 170 Republican House members.
The CBO predicted the bill, which guts Obamacare, would mean 23 million people would go without insurance over the next decade, with 14 million not having insurance in the next year.
Walker said part of the reason for the steep decline is people are free from Obamacare’s individual mandate, which forces people to buy insurance or pay a hefty fine.
“Maybe 10 million of that 23 million will say I don’t want to go out and buy insurance,” he said.
