A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
People who buy insurance on federal marketplaces are seeing much higher premiums. Chris O'Donnell in Richmond, Virginia, says his family's cost is expected to go up by $1,300 per month.
CHRIS O'DONNELL: With my wife's diabetes and also her being a cancer survivor, not having insurance is just completely out of the question. I do have enough income that by not putting any money aside for retirement next year, I can redirect that money towards the insurance premium.
MARTÍNEZ: O'Donnell is 57 years old, and he and his wife are seriously considering retirement in another country where health care costs are more stable.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Genna Boatright lives in the north woods of Wisconsin in a town called Siren.
GENNA BOATRIGHT: I don't really know what my coverage will look like, other than the preliminary numbers are showing that without the tax credit, it will be 100% increased. And that I absolutely cannot afford.
INSKEEP: Boatright is 40 and has an aggressive case of rheumatoid arthritis.
BOATRIGHT: And I do worry that without insurance and the care of specialty and the medication that I'm on, how quickly I will become disabled. And that's an absolutely terrifying prospect.
MARTÍNEZ: Ezra McKay (ph) is in his 20s, works part-time as a bookseller in Memphis and has liked his insurance up to now.
EZRA MCKAY: All of my prescriptions are covered, and a lot of my doctor's visits are covered too, which has just been such a relief over the last year. It's just kind of made me feel, like, important and valid, like I deserve to exist or something like that.
MARTÍNEZ: Without the subsidy, his premium goes from $15 per month to $550 - nearly half his monthly income.
INSKEEP: Which matters to Mr. McKay because he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
MCKAY: I would be in an extremely bad situation of having difficulty maintaining my job, maintaining my house, maybe even having a life-threatening situation, if I were to have a mental health crisis due to being unmedicated.
INSKEEP: He says he is considering moving to California or Washington state, where state programs offer more secure coverage. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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