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Long before I chose to pursue public office, I realized there was one goal for any career I pursued: I wanted to help people – especially people in my own community. As a native Atlantan, I wanted to return home after earning a master’s in physical therapy to practice in the city where I was raised. I’m proud to now represent the heart of that city in the state House.
State Rep. Mesha Mainor
I was elected to represent Georgia’s 56th House district in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. As in many communities across the country, the public health emergency decimated our state. And the devastating consequences taught us an important lesson: every community needs and deserves access to affordable health care. When we fail to provide it, it’s our most vulnerable communities that suffer the most.
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) that was passed last year provided much needed relief to Americans struggling to afford health care amid the uncertainties brought on by COVID-19. The legislation’s enhanced subsidies lowered premiums and increased access to care for more Americans than ever before. 701,135 Georgia residents signed up for marketplace health coverage in 2022. In 2021, approximately 127 thousand Georgians who were previously uninsured became newly eligible for tax credits thanks to ARPA expansion. Hundreds of thousands of Georgians now have peace of mind when it comes to accessing affordable health care for themselves and their families.
While the passage of ARPA was a monumental achievement, we must remember that it is currently a temporary solution. The enhanced subsidies that so many Americans rely on are set to expire this coming December. There will be devastating consequences if we allow that to happen.
The more than 127 thousand previously uninsured Georgia residents who rely on ARPA subsidies for coverage will once again be ineligible for tax credits if Congress does not make the subsidies permanent. Premiums will skyrocket for all Americans. Nearly 13 million people will face an average premium increase of fifty dollars per month. Simply put: millions of Americans will lose the health insurance they rely on because they can no longer afford it.
It was disheartening to see that during a three-month period in late 2021, almost a third of Americans skipped seeking out medical care due to cost. Since then, the economic conditions of many Georgians have worsened. We are facing an alarming rate of evictions, the housing crunch has forced rental rates to above market numbers, and the Federal Reserve interest rate hike by 0.75 percentage point will make borrowing money more expensive.
Residents in my district feel this pinch every time they go to the grocery store, fill up their car, or make a decision on which medicine they can afford – these should not be choices that Georgians face every day. We cannot allow health care choices to join the list of hard decisions Americans are making these days. It is more important than ever to fight to keep the cost of care down. The stakes are simply too high.
Congress can act now to make ARPA’s premium tax credits permanent, avoiding the harmful consequences experts have outlined if they are allowed to expire. I urge Congress to pass a reconciliation bill before the August recess to permanently extend ARPA subsidies for the millions of Americans who depend on them.
Insurance providers are currently in the process of setting rates for 2023 with state regulators. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports “some are already factoring in an additional premium increase because they expect ARPA subsidies to expire.” This must not happen. Time is running out. Millions of Americans are facing looming premium hikes that could be the difference in whether they can afford care or not.
I am grateful to Senator Warnock and Senator Ossoff for helping to champion the passage of ARPA. They stepped up to ensure countless Georgians were able to access affordable health care when it was so desperately needed. Georgians are counting on them to step up once again. We must make tax credits permanent before the summer recess to safeguard access to affordable health care.
State Representative Mesha Mainor represents Georgia House District 56.
