Amy Johnstone: How ACA Premium Tax Credits Protect Families in Colorado

Amy Johnstone and her husband live in New Castle, Colorado, a place she calls one of the most expensive in the country to get health insurance. Proximity to ski resort communities, where the couple resides in Garfield County, pushes health care costs much higher for local residents. For them, the Affordable Care Act makes the difference between having coverage and being buried by costs. “My rates without my subsidies from the Affordable Care Act would be $923 a month for the bronze program, which is the lowest tier of health insurance of the three tiers,” she said. The plan carries an $8,000 deductible, leaving Amy to shoulder enormous costs before insurance even begins to help. She explained that it adds up quickly: “Per year, that’s around $11,000. And if I maxed out my deductible and needed that much money, or if I had some kind of emergency, I would be liable for around $20,000 in a year, which actually is my income.”

Amy and her husband’s household income is about $40,000, yet her medical needs alone could easily surpass that. She has hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a relatively new diagnosis in the medical world, and the treatments that work for her are not covered by insurance. Every year she uses her entire Health Savings Account, around $6,000, to manage her condition. “So essentially you could say that my medical expenses could easily exceed my annual income, even being fully insured, if I didn’t have the subsidy.”

Thankfully, Amy is able to afford her coverage with help from Premium Tax Credits available through the ACA. “So, these subsidies are imperative for me, and the cost of health care is just so expensive,” Amy explained. She and her husband run a small print publishing business. It is work they love, but it does not provide health coverage. “You can say, oh, you’re not really earning that much money, but that’s what we love to do, and we need to buy our own health insurance. So, it’s the position we’re in.” With the premium tax credits, Amy’s health insurance premium is now $1.57 a month, an extraordinary savings compared to $923. Amy is one of millions of Americans who utilize these subsidies in order to afford health care. If Congress allows the enhanced credits to expire at the end of this year, and her premiums increase, she does not have a backup plan to stay covered, sharing, “Without the Affordable Care Act, I don’t know what we would do.”

She believes the program should be protected and strengthened. “The subsidies are absolutely necessary, in my opinion, and any cuts to the program would be devastating for people working and living in the state of Colorado, where we do our best. So please, let’s keep the Affordable Care Act intact, and if anything, improve it and certainly not make cuts.”

The ACA is not the only program that has helped Amy maintain access to affordable health coverage. She also knows firsthand what it means to rely on Medicaid. Years ago, when she was between jobs and trying to get her business off the ground, she could not afford insurance on her own. “I did apply for Medicaid and had it for around a year while I was transitioning,” she said. Having that safety net gave her breathing room. “It was such an important stepping stone for me because I had the peace of mind to know that I had coverage in case of a health emergency or any health problems. I did get my annual checkups and that’s about all I did, you know, that’s all I needed that insurance for, but it was just so important to have it.”

Her experience left her thinking about others in similar situations. “I worry for other people who are in the same circumstance or who regularly need Medicaid for their health insurance purposes and, you know, between jobs or experiencing mental health crisis, there’s so many reasons that people might need that safety net. So please, let’s keep Medicaid in Colorado intact. It’s such an amazing service in a place with such expensive health insurance rates.”

Amy’s story shows how critical these programs are not only for her family but for countless others navigating high health care costs in Colorado and across the country. As she put it, the safety nets of Medicaid and the ACA are “imperative” and “absolutely necessary.” Without them, she and many others would be left without options.