The new Senate bill's major provisions

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Republicans have made lower insurance premiums one of their biggest promises on healthcare. Despite this goal, an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that, once you factor in tax credits, the end point premium payment for most Americans in the individual health insurance market would actually increase under the Senate's Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) healthcare overhaul bill.

The nonpartisan health policy think tank broke down just how much premiums, factoring the effect of tax credits in the proposed law, for a silver-level plan in the individual insurance market would increase for people of different ages.

While the individual market only makes up around 7% of the population, the premiums in the market have become a central part of the debate over the future of healthcare. Republicans often bring up the increase in premiums in this market as a reason that the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, needs to be replaced. Overall, Kaiser found that premiums after tax credits in the market would increase by 74% under the BCRA compared to the ACA.

Additionally, older Americans would see an even steeper increase for a variety of reasons. For one thing, older people can be charged more under the BCRA than the ACA. Under current law, older Americans can only be charged three times as much for premiums as younger Americans. Under the Senate bill, this age band would increase to five times.


Additionally, the premium tax credit structure would be changed. The formula for how much of a person's income is supposed to be spent towards premiums would gradually increase as individuals age under the BCRA. Add it all up and almost everyone would see an increase in their premiums for a silver plan, with the increases getting more dramatic the older someone gets.

Premium increase from Senate Republican healthcare bill, BCRA - Business Insider