Healthcare subsidy turmoil to sting Georgians

Georgians concerned about healthcare weren't cheered by a report revealed Tuesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

If Congress and President Trump don’t create more certainty in the insurance market, there will be consequences. They have threatened a subsidy that helps make the Obamacare exchange market run, but they haven’t provided any repair to the current system.

So, the CBO predicted, if that subsidy goes away, healthcare premiums could rise 20 percent for some Obamacare customers initially, and the insurance market would undergo upheaval as changes all sorted themselves out.

And to boot, yanking the subsidies wouldn’t save the federal government money, because another subsidy would be required to take its place. In fact, the change would cost money, increasing the federal deficit by $194 billion over 10 years.

The subsidies, called cost sharing reductions, are provided to insurance companies to lower out-of-pocket costs for lower income customers.