Obamacare premiums are jumping another 13 percent next year, hammering working Americans who were promised lower costs and now face a mandatory bill that just keeps climbing.
The Affordable Care Act was sold as a way to rein in healthcare spending. More than a decade later, it functions as a forced pipeline from working families to insurance companies — and this latest double-digit hike, landing days before an election, proves neither party has fixed it.
On Friday, the federal government published proposed 2027 insurance rates for 30 states on the federal marketplace. According to an analysis by health research organization KFF, the average ACA marketplace premium will rise 13 percent next year. That follows a 26 percent average increase in 2026. KFF estimates enrollment has already fallen by nearly five million people as of June.
It's not just Obamacare. Consulting firms project employer-sponsored plan premiums will rise about 10 percent in 2027, and federal workers face hikes exceeding 10 percent, according to both The Post Millennial and The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Rising hospital prices, changes to consumer protection laws affecting doctor compensation, growing use of artificial intelligence in medical offices, and expensive specialty prescriptions like GLP-1s and cancer drugs are all driving the increases, industry analysts told both outlets.
The Inquirer framed the hike as "yet another blow to Obamacare under the Trump administration," pointing to expired tax credits and new enrollment barriers. The Post Millennial led with the raw numbers. The truth is this is a bipartisan failure. The ACA passed on Democratic votes, but Republicans have had years of congressional control and White House influence without delivering a replacement or meaningful reform. Senator Mike Lee posted on X that Democrats "want a single-payer healthcare system run by DC bureaucrats" — but his own party hasn't offered a working alternative.
The people getting crushed are Americans like Kate and Mark Dwyer of rural Oregon, profiled by the Inquirer, who say their cheapest available plan will cost nearly $3,000 a month next year — more than a third of her nonprofit earnings. "We are looking at going without next year," Kate Dwyer said. "There is no middle ground. It's either $3,000 or nothing."
Cynthia Cox, director of KFF's ACA program, noted that older consumers earning more than $63,840 — about 10 percent of enrollees — have faced premium increases over $1,000 a month in 2026. "These people are getting hit the hardest by rising health care costs, and they don't get any help," Cox said.
The Trump administration sent some Obamacare enrollees one-time $500 checks this month to offset costs — a band-aid before ballots are cast. The Inquirer noted the administration released the new premium data "quietly Friday afternoon" as a data file, with a fact sheet that didn't mention the increase.
A KFF poll found roughly 60 percent of registered voters worry about affording healthcare for themselves and their families. Open enrollment starts Sunday.
The ACA was supposed to make healthcare affordable. Instead, premiums have become a recurring tax on working Americans, and the only debate in Washington is whether to subsidize the insurance companies faster or slower.
