'I'm going to die': Grim reality hits as cancer patient's health costs rocket nearly 900%
Johana Scott is one of more than 20 million Americans who turned the calendar page to a health care crisis after her enhanced tax credits expired Jan. 1 for the Affordable Care Act.
The Texas woman, who was diagnosed with Stage 3 endometrial cancer in February, logged into her health insurance account on Dec. 3 and found her usual premium of about $200 a month had jumped to $1,725 for the same plan. She told MS NOW that she's now not sure what she'll do if lawmakers don't extend the enhanced tax credits.
“It's not feasible, considering I make roughly around $1,200 a month,” Scott said. “I won’t even have money for groceries, less alone my bills.”
Scott's cancer treatment requires immunotherapy sessions that cost between $20,000 and $45,000 each – more than her annual income – and she'll require weekly treatments for the next two years.
“I’ve been crying since December because I don’t know what to do,” she told MS NOW. “If I don’t have my insurance, I am going to die this year.”
North Carolina resident Hannah White told the network she was forced to make an impossible choice for her family after her premium jumped nearly 50 percent, but her husband eventually decided to drop his coverage after they were unable to pay for insurance for both of them.
“We are really gambling on there not being an emergency,” she said. “I think healthcare access in the U.S. is a crisis.”
Washington retiree Stacey Johnson saw her monthly premium explode from $6,000 to $18,000 annually, which she says she can't afford without the enhanced tax subsidies.
“That’s a three-times jump, and it’s not sustainable," Johnson said. "I will not be able to afford that long term.”
The enhanced subsidies were enacted as part of the pandemic relief legislation in 2021 and extended the following year, but they expired at the start of this year after Congress could not agree on any measures to restore assistance to pay for health care coverage under Obamacare.
Scott said she hopes she lives long enough for a solution.
“I know there’s so many other people, and it’s not like I’m this big, important person,” Scott said. “But to my family and my friends, I am important, and I would like to live for, you know, for as long as I can.”