If your health insurance bill feels shocking this year, you’re not imagining it. For many middle-income families, health insurance has quietly become one of their biggest monthly expenses, sometimes even larger than their mortgage.
Here’s what’s happening.
During the pandemic, expanded subsidies made Affordable Care Act plans far more affordable, even for households earning more than the traditional cutoff. Those subsidies expired at the end of last year, and Congress has not replaced them. As a result, premiums are being recalculated, and many families are seeing dramatic increases.
The people hit hardest are those caught in the middle. They earn too much to qualify for meaningful assistance but not enough to absorb thousands of dollars in new monthly costs. This includes small-business owners, independent contractors, early retirees, and families without access to employer-sponsored coverage.
We’re seeing premiums double and triple overnight. In some cases, families are being asked to pay more for health insurance than they do for their home. These aren’t luxury plans. They’re basic policies meant to prevent financial disaster if something serious happens.
Faced with these increases, people are making tough choices. Some are downgrading coverage. Some are switching to group plans through a business. Others are cutting household spending just to stay insured. And some are choosing to go without insurance entirely and hope nothing goes wrong.
That’s a risky place to be.
At Glidewell, we believe insurance has one primary purpose: to protect you from financial devastation, not inconvenience. Health insurance should fit into a broader financial strategy, not operate in isolation or create constant stress and confusion.
Our role isn’t to push a specific plan. It’s to help you understand the landscape, run the numbers, and make informed decisions. That might include comparing marketplace options, exploring group coverage, adjusting income strategies, or helping you decide where self-insuring makes sense and where it doesn’t. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, and anyone who tells you there is probably isn’t doing the math with you.
What matters most is clarity. Knowing what you’re paying for, what risks you’re truly exposed to, and what options you actually have before the bill shows up.
Healthcare costs are one of the biggest pressure points families face today. You shouldn’t have to navigate them alone or make decisions based on fear, headlines, or last-minute surprises. With the right guidance and a clear strategy, it’s possible to protect what matters most without overpaying or leaving yourself exposed.
If your health insurance costs have jumped, or you’re worried about what’s coming next, that’s a conversation worth having now, not later. You can set a time with Katrina to review your current coverage, walk through your options, and make sure your health insurance fits into your bigger financial picture, not against it.