The Asheville Watchdog is highlighting stories of some of the nearly one million North Carolinians who are seeing their health care premiums double or more on average, and are making tough decisions about affording their coverage or dropping it altogether – thanks to DC Republicans’ refusal to extend the ACA tax credits and fix the health care crisis they created. 

DC insider Michael Whatley backs Republicans’ health care crisis that is making North Carolinians’ premiums skyrocket.

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Asheville Watchdog: “There’s no way”: Huge ACA premium hikes force Buncombe policyholders to make hard choices, including dropping coverage

• Virginia Gilbert was shocked and angry after she learned last week that premiums for her Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance policy will more than double next year, jumping from $930 to $2,042.

• Gilbert and other ACA enrollees interviewed by Asheville Watchdog are considering a range of options to address these costs – from working more, to choosing bare-bones plans or even dropping healthcare coverage altogether.

• The elimination of enhanced subsidies would come on top of cuts to ACA in July’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act budget reconciliation…

• But the end to enhanced credits are leading not only to a direct jump in premiums, but to secondary increases based on actuarial calculations, according to KFF. As subsidies drop and rates climb, insurers expect “healthier enrollees to drop coverage” its website says. “That, in turn, increases underlying premiums.” 

• Gilbert said she is healthy except for a digestive issue that requires expensive medication. Paying for that out of pocket would cost far less than her 2026 ACA-backed Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, she said.

• She could cut out vacations and work more hours to fill the cost gap, she said. She has also considered doing without coverage until she qualifies for Medicare in less than two years.

• [Sarah Laliberte] is currently paying $1,450 per month to cover herself, her husband and their two children, ages eight and 10. Her expected monthly premium will climb to $3,145 based on an estimated household income of $150,000.

• That includes Mary Williams, 62, who said she cannot hope to pay her premiums, which are set to soar from $172 to $1,879.

• Her subsidy was based on her modest income as a freelance artist and musician, she said. Her rent recently tripled because two roommates moved out and she is paying off her $900 share of an emergency room bill for a kidney stone treatment.

• “I can’t pay that,” she said of the hospital bill, and her insurance premiums would come to more than half her salary.

• “It’s like a 1,000 percent increase,” she said. “I mean, there’s no way.”

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