State Retirees Face 85% Health Insurance Rate Hike Under Kelly Ayotte 

State Retirees Face 85% Health Insurance Rate Hike Under Kelly Ayotte 
 

A new report from the Union Leader paints a daunting picture for roughly 11,200 New Hampshire state retirees and their spouses, who will now “face an 85% increase” in their monthly health care premiums under Kelly Ayotte. Monthly premiums for retirees will jump from $220 a month to $406 a month. 

Previously, “retirees did not pay any premium,” yet Ayotte’s state director of risk and benefits says the retirees should “feel very appreciative” of these benefits, no matter the increased cost. This premium hike is on top of “other increases” that retirees could face thanks to Medicare cuts in Trump’s Big, Ugly Bill. 

This comes just months after an estimated 20,000 Granite Staters are being forced to pay upwards of $270 per month thanks to the new, excessive Medicaid premiums that Costly Kelly imposed. She also barreled forward with a $51 million back of the budget cut to the Department of Health and Human Services, which left them with “the largest reduction the department has seen in at least 30 years.” 

“Forcing retirees who dedicated their lives to improving our state to pay an outrageous increase to keep basic health care is cruel and unusual punishment,” said NHDP spokesperson Marissa Hebert. “Costly Kelly should be working to lower health care costs, not making it harder for Granite Staters to afford the care they may desperately need.”