Millions of Americans would drop insurance if exchange subsidies didn’t exist, studies find

Between eight and 10 million people would be likely to drop their health insurance if the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of a lawsuit challenging the legality of subsidies for insurance purchased on the federally run health insurance exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act, two studies have found.

A study by the RAND Corporation released estimates that a ruling leading to the elimination of the subsidies would cause 9.6 million people to go without insurance, as the number of people insured through the exchanges would drop from 13.7 million to 4.1 million.1

In addition, because many of those leaving the insurance pool would be younger, healthier people with lower health costs, premiums would rise for everyone who purchased cover on the individual insurance …