[ad_1]
(Washington, DC) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Work and Pensions (HELP), highlighted new data showing that the US bailout has cut premiums for thousands of people in Washington. who obtain their health insurance from the Washington Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange). Seeing how many people were losing their health insurance or looking for new insurance during the pandemic, Senator Murray fought to include these provisions in the US bailout.
“The US bailout was the biggest health care expansion since the Affordable Care Act, and the tax credits we have included for families are already lowering health care costs for residents of the United States. Washington State and across the country, ”Senator Murray said. “The pandemic has made access to quality and affordable health care all the more crucial, so I am happy that we were able to cover more people and reduce premiums for over 100,000 people in the state of Washington, and more across the country. I will continue to fight to make these measures permanent and take the biggest and boldest action families need, because we need to do so much more to make sure that healthcare in this country is truly a right, not a privilege. “
According to Murray, the American Rescue Plan, among a host of other provisions, has reduced health insurance premiums for millions of Americans who buy insurance in the markets and subsidized Continuing Health Coverage (COBRA) for those who had lost their employer sponsored coverage. These arrangements also followed President Biden allowing a special enrollment period for individuals and families to apply and register for coverage through exchanges, allowing more people to obtain insurance. Senator Murray has since called for these changes to be made permanent.
Less than two months after the adoption of the US bailout, the Washington State Stock Exchange was among the first in the country to make all of the new US bailout savings available to exchange clients, including including additional help for those who report unemployment income in 2021. In addition, the Exchange automatically applied the new savings from the US bailout to current eligible clients so that they can receive lower premiums without having to take action. additional.
The result in Washington state was that 138,000 people, nearly two-thirds (64%) of people who receive health care through the exchange, have seen their premiums drop – and for those who have seen their premiums go down, they went down an average of $ 90. a month. In addition, the rate of new registrations more than doubled (increase of 160%) after the entry into force of the American bailout.
[ad_2]
