How a Health Insurance Shortfall in Georgia Could Play Out in the Midterms
6/14/202619 min
Thousands of residents in the Peach State have dropped out of health insurance coverage since the start of 2025, prompted in part by this year’s expiration of enhanced federal subsidies that helped them pay their monthly premiums. For our special What’s News series The Cost-of-Living Election, WSJ national politics reporter Sabrina Siddiqui speaks to Republican pollster Adam Geller and Democratic pollster John Anzalone. They discuss voters’ expectations of Congress when it comes to healthcare costs, Democrats’ trust advantage on healthcare, and whether that could swing the election to their party—including incumbent Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff—in November. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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John Czajkowski· Guest0:29
So I'm using Georgia Access's, um, uh, state-based exchange website as a starting point, but you can actually do this at healthcare.gov. There's a special- John Czajkowski is at his computer, scrolling through the options for health insurance in Georgia ... periodically, um, I'm plugging in, I live in Fulton County, so I'm in downtown Atlanta. Um, here's my date of birth, and then my income.
Sabrina Siddiqui· Host0:51
Czajkowski is an independent insurance broker, and he's giving us a closer look at what he calls a double whammy. Premiums for insurance that complies with the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, have gone up, and federal tax credits that would have helped people pay for them expired on January 1st. Czajkowski saw the effects of this on prices and on the people he helps find insurance.
John Czajkowski· Guest1:16
Seeing the rates increase year over year, that's kind of par for the course. Seeing the rates jump overnight from one year to the next, that significant, you know, uh, uh, 30 to 40%,