As Congress begins health care debate, Mainers grapple with insurance price hikes

Arundel resident Emily Ingwersen is looking at an increase of $1,400 per month to continue her family’s health insurance coverage next year if the tax credit they receive isn’t extended by Congress. 

Ingwersen, a mother of two, and her husband receive health insurance through the state’s marketplace. Together they run Ginger Hill Design + Build, a construction company that specializes in energy efficient homes, which they’ve been able to take risks to grow because of more affordable insurance coverage, Ingwersen said. 

The expiration of the subsidies that Ingwersen, along with just over 54,000 Mainers and millions of people across the country, currently receive was the key issue behind the federal government shutdown. After 43 days, the longest shutdown in U.S. history, the government reopened, but the deal to do so did not address the tax credits.  In Maine, Ingwersen and many others are seeing just how high their insurance costs could become.