WASHINGTON – (INT) - As Congress gets ready to debate the Republican health-care plan, key differences have arisen between it and the Affordable Care Act — more widely known as “Obamacare”. A lot of wallets could be affected.

According to estimates by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the proposed American Health Care Act (AHCA) — unofficially known as “Trumpcare” --- would raise the average health-insurance premium for an individual policyholder by 15 to 20 percent just one or two years from now and lower federal subsidies. In contrast, the CBO projected, average Obamacare premiums would decrease 10 percent by 2026.

In order to gauge the AHCA’s impact on people who buy their own insurance, WalletHub’s analysts compared the differences in premium subsidies that the average households in 457 U.S. cities would receive under Obamacare and Trumpcare.

Locally, based on the difference in premium tax credits received by the average household under proposed and current health laws, Riverside ranks 318th among 457 least-affected cities. San Bernardino comes in 154th and Ontario 312th.

Story Date: March 25, 2017