How Age Affects Affordability Under The GOP Health Care Plan

“I don’t personally want to be part of a system where I benefit and other people get screwed over.”

By Ashley LopezMarch 21, 2017 9:30 am, , , ,

From KUT

More than 1.2 million Texans are signed up for health insurance through the federal marketplace. That’s the part of Obamacare that allows companies to sell plans directly to individuals. Under the GOP replacement bill working its way through Congress, there could be big changes to how the government helps these individuals pay for their plans.

Central Texas, overall, would fare better than other parts of the country. Health care and insurance costs are lower in this part of the state. But there are still some folks here who would be negatively affected by the Republicans’ plan.

One of those Texans is Victoria Tisor. She lives in Oak Hill with a vegetable garden in her backyard and three chickens named after the Dixie Chicks.

Tisor is a textbook “responsible adult.” Her house is paid off, and she eats healthy, works out and plans everything.

“I am the kind of individual who says, ‘I have responsibility for my own life and my own path,’” she says.

So when the Republican health care plan was first released, she sat down and did the numbers to find out what it might mean for her.

“Well, I’m worried right now,” Tisor says. “I don’t know how it’s going to change in the next few months, but the package that is out there right now is not affordable for me.”

Experts say a lot of folks would find insurance unaffordable under the GOP plan.

“Both premiums and out-of-pocket costs are going to be much higher for some individuals under the bill, specifically people who are low income, people who live in rural areas and people who are older – ages 50 to 64,” says Stacey Pogue with the left-leaning Center for Public Policy Priorities.

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