CNN’s Obamacare Hoax

CNN’s coverage of Obamacare and the government shutdown egregiously deceives viewers by omitting key facts.

SOURCES:

CNN report: https://x.com/MikeNellis/status/1975260103940186264

Health insurance is typically quoted, billed, and paid on a “monthly” basis:
• “The monthly premium for health insurance is the point of comparison most familiar to consumers and the one that most influences consumers’ choice of plan.” https://www.medicarerights.org/pdf/Benefits-Standardization.pdf
• “All participating health insurers and managed care organizations shall offer a monthly premium mode and may offer additional, less frequent, modes.” https://rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/120-2-81
• “Your health insurance company will send you a bill for your monthly premium.”
https://healthcare.oregon.gov/marketplace/blog/pages/what-to-do-now.aspx
• “You pay a monthly bill to your insurance company” https://www.healthcare.gov/choose-a-plan/comparing-plans/

The figures cited by CNN are annual (not monthly) premiums, Obamacare recipients currently pay an average of $74/month ($888/year) for health insurance, and if the enhanced subsidy expires, they will pay an average of $159/month ($1,904/year). https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/aca-marketplace-premium-payments-would-more-than-double-on-average-next-year-if-enhanced-premium-tax-credits-expire/

If the enhanced subsidy expires, the original Obamacare subsidies will remain, and taxpayers will still pick up the bulk of the tab for these policies. See figure 4: https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/inflation-reduction-act-health-insurance-subsidies-what-is-their-impact-and-what-would-happen-if-they-expire/

The “maximum income limit” for the original Obamacare subsidies is 400% of the federal poverty line. https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/2024-12-04_R48290_93ab164c5cd9e0f05b016b7322a94bad0bc3c4c2.pdf

CNN’s example of a couple making $85,000/year is just above 400% of the poverty line, which is $84,600 for a family of two and $150,600 for a family of five (the video mistakenly says a family of four). https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/dd73d4f00d8a819d10b2fdb70d254f7b/detailed-guidelines-2025.pdf

CNN’s graphic shows that:
• without enhanced subsidies, the full cost of an Obamacare plan for a couple making $85,000/year is $25,305/year ($2,109/month).
• with enhanced subsidies, the couple would pay $7,225/year for the plan, or 29% of the cost, while taxpayers pick up the other 71%.
https://x.com/MikeNellis/status/1975260103940186264

In most cases, “workers bear the full incidence” of “employer-provided health insurance.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10754-005-6603-5

It is “generally accepted that increasing health care premiums result in lower wages for employees,” and “increasing health insurance premium costs” are “meaningfully associated with wage stagnation.” https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2813927

In states that would be “hardest hit” by the expiration of enhanced Obamacare subsidies, slightly more than 10% of the population receives them, and most of these people will still be eligible for the original subsidies if the enhanced ones expire. See Figures 8 & 2: https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/inflation-reduction-act-health-insurance-subsidies-what-is-their-impact-and-what-would-happen-if-they-expire/

Tom Foreman “leads” CNN’s “fact checking initiative.” ttps://www.cnn.com/profiles/tom-foreman-profile

Footage from CNN is reproduced under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law for “purposes such as criticism” and “comment” (17 U.S.C. §107). https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107