Deductibles projected to rise $1,550 under GOP health plan

The average health insurance deductible is projected to be $1,550 higher under the GOP ObamaCare replacement plan than it is under the Affordable Care Act, according to an analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). 

The analysis finds that reduced financial help under the GOP plan would push people toward less-generous plans with lower premiums and higher deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs. Insurers would trend toward offering only those plans with high deductibles, the KFF added. 

In addition, the elimination of ObamaCare’s financial assistance known as “cost-sharing reductions” would raise out-of-pocket costs for low-income people, the analysis from KFF President Drew Altman, writing in Axios, finds. 

{mosads}One of Republicans’ main criticisms of ObamaCare has been that the deductibles are too high, and President Trump promised “much lower deductibles” in an interview with The Washington Post in January. 

Yet Altman’s analysis finds that “out-of-pocket costs will go up for many consumers buying their own insurance, particularly people who need more health care services.”

The average deductible is projected to rise from $2,550 under ObamaCare to $4,100 under the Republican plan. 

The Congressional Budget Office also found that under the Republican bill, “individuals’ cost-sharing payments, including deductibles, in the nongroup market would tend to be higher than those anticipated under current law.”