Collins now claims ACA marketplace open enrollment makes it hard to adjust insurance rates and save health care, despite previously asserting there was no rush to act

Augusta, Maine – After repeatedly refusing to take action to extend ACA tax credits and saying there was no deadline, today Susan Collins changed her tune completely and said that the CoverME ACA marketplace’s open enrollment period already beginning and Mainers already seeing their expected insurance premiums spike makes it “difficult” to negotiate a deal on extending ACA tax credits.

Just weeks ago, as she continuously opposed and then voted against efforts to extend ACA tax credits, Collins asserted there was no rush to act, despite Maine state officials warning action on the expiring tax credits had to be taken before September 30th.

Collins Now:

  • “Insurance rates have already been issued for the year and the marketplace is already open, so it makes it very difficult to, in the first year, do major changes”

Collins Then:

  • “ACA tax credits, she says, ‘does not have a Sept. 30 deadline’”

As a result of Collins not extending the tax credits when she had the chance, more than 50,000 Mainers are expected to see their insurance premiums “double, triple or even quadruple.”

For months, Mainers have warned of the impact rising costs will have on them and their health. Maine state officials warned action on the expiring tax credits had to be taken before September 30th, and “that extending the enhanced premium tax credit is the single most effective step Congress can take to lower health care costs for Mainers.” And as Maine insurance rates are already set to increase, leaders have highlighted “one of the reasons [for rate increases] stated by every insurance company is the expiration of these enhanced premium tax credits.”

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