The Trump Administration has announced it will offer a new insurance product called “high-risk pools” to cover Americans with pre-existing conditions.
But it won’t be the only option.
The White House is also planning to offer new health insurance policies that would provide a subsidy for people who cannot afford to pay the full cost of health insurance, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
According to the WSJ, the White House’s new plan would include a subsidy of $1,000 for each insured adult up to age 26.
The proposal would also extend the tax break that makes up the ACA’s subsidies to those who cannot pay their premiums.
A similar proposal was recently unveiled by President Trump’s transition team, but that proposal did not include a premium subsidy.
In order to be able to afford to buy insurance on the exchanges, people who earn less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level (about $46,000) would need to pay an additional $1 for every $1 they make.
For people earning between 400 and 400,000 per year, the subsidy would drop to $1 per $1.50 of income.
That subsidy is intended to cover the costs of insurance, such as deductibles, co-pays and out-of-pocket costs.
Those who earn between 400,001 and 4.9 million per year will pay no premiums.
However, those earning between 4.8 million and 4,979,999 per year would pay $1 more than those earning less than $4,929,999 for each $1 of income that they earn above that threshold.
With the new subsidies, Americans earning between $1 and $8,000 a year would be able buy a new health plan for about $1 less per month than before, according to the Journal.
As of January 1, 2020, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the subsidies would cost the federal government $7 billion to $9.5 billion a year, according a March 20 Wall Street Report.
Health insurers, meanwhile, are struggling to attract healthy consumers.
A Kaiser Family Foundation study found that health insurance premiums for older Americans increased significantly between 2015 and 2020, while premiums for people under age 35 increased by less than 2 percent.
While some insurers are still selling plans that offer a “high risk pool,” the Journal reported that the plans offered under the new plan are expected to offer fewer benefits than the plans available on the ACA.
