North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread’s discussion with Scott Hennen
UNITED STATES – The federal government shutting down partially because of Democrats wanting Affordable Care Act Premium tax credits to be extended brought the cost of health insurance to the forefront of many people’s minds.
President Donald Trump wants Obamacare subsidies to go to the people buying insurance and not insurance companies. Godfread said that’s a fair option to look at.
“The issue I’m concerned about is do we have the time to do that? Are we going to be able to impact that for the 2026 plan year for these individuals who are purchasing insurance right now?” North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread said on The Flag.
According to Godfread, before the Affordable Care Act was signed into law by former President Barack Obama in 2010, 10 to 12 percent of North Dakotans didn’t have health insurance. He said the amount of people uninsured in the state stayed the same after Obamacare went into effect.
Godfread gave the example of someone forgetting their insurance card while paying for medications having to pay $250. If that person were to use insurance, they would pay $20, but the insurance company would pay $1,500.
“We need to have a discussion around what are the services that we are paying for and why do those costs keep rising that are massively above inflation?” Godfread said. “When you talk reform, let’s move some of this back to the states as best we can to get state regulators who know what’s going on in their market, give them the options to solve the market problems we have.”
