‘Put yourself in someone’s house’: Gee connects Washington’s 22% premium spike to rising homelessness

As health insurance premiums for Washingtonians who buy their own coverage are about to soar, KIRO host Gee Scott challenged listeners to sit with what that actually means for families already stretched to the breaking point.

“Put yourself in someone’s house, in a situation where rent goes up, groceries go up, car insurance goes up,” Gee said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “When your health insurance goes up, sometimes you don’t have another $200 or $300. Sometimes you don’t have enough room on your credit card.”

The state insurance commissioner approved a 22.2% average rate increase for individual health plans in 2027, according to The Seattle Times. It is the state’s largest jump in nearly a decade and substantially higher than the 15% median increase proposed nationwide.

“Is your raise next year going to be 22%?” Gee asked.

For those who get insurance through their job, the news isn’t much better. According to Reuters, employer-sponsored plan costs are expected to rise 9.5% in 2027, pushing the average total above $19,000 per employee.

‘How families fall apart financially’

Gee connected the premium hike directly to rising homelessness.

“The next time that we hear about an increase in the homelessness population, when we hear about that, and you say, ‘Well, I don’t understand how they get there,’ I just want you to know, things like this set up that track,” he said. “These are how families potentially fall apart financially.”

Gee laid out the impossible choice facing many households.

“Either you make the decision, and now you don’t have enough money at the end of the month, or you just make the decision to do away with health insurance in the first place, and then we know what could happen then,” he said.

GLP-1 drugs: driving insurance costs and shaking up marriages

KIRO producer Andrew Lanier said drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are to blame.

“GLP-1 drugs have had an impact on the insurance markets,” he said. “They actually are one of the biggest drivers of increases in premiums.”

Andrew added that roughly 37,000 people have already left Washington’s individual insurance market this year after federal tax subsidies expired.

Those same drugs are reshaping more than just balance sheets. Listeners texted into the show about the ways GLP-1 medications are putting stress on marriages and long-term relationships.

According to Psychology Today, the more weight loss a GLP-1 user experiences, the likelier their intimate relationships will be affected. Experts find the same pattern from bariatric surgery, where married patients are roughly 41% more likely to divorce.

Gee warns that weight loss can shift the power dynamic in a relationship

Gee said the GLP-1 conversations exposed a deeper issue: the danger of tying your identity or power in a relationship to any single thing, whether it’s money, appearance, or health.

“I don’t think any of us should look at someone and say we are better than them,” he said. “You start thinking you’re better than your partner. Where the heck is that heading to?”

Andrew agreed, arguing that GLP-1 drugs are revealing dysfunction that already existed in many relationships.

“A lot of people are comfortable with the fact that their partner is overweight,” he said. “We have these codependent, dysfunctional relationships very often where we want people to stay exactly the same because then it doesn’t threaten us. If they change, it’s a threat.”

A first-time texter offered what Gee called the most powerful message of the segment: “It’s not that people think they’re better than their partner. Often it’s that their partner is not supportive of their journey or has not been supportive of their weight issues all along. Many partners felt it was OK to make negative comments about their partner’s weight, but once that changes and the person starts feeling better about themselves, those partners realize they haven’t been good partners all along.”

“A lot of times we accept being treated like garbage from our partner because of our own self-esteem,” Andrew added.

Gee gets personal: ‘I was 268 pounds’

Gee shared his own weight loss journey, revealing that during a holiday weigh-in with friends at Christmas 2022, he stepped on the scale and saw a number he didn’t expect.

“When I stepped on the scale that day in 2022, I was 268 pounds, and it was the weirdest thing,” he said. “I had seen some pictures, and I knew I was starting to look bigger, but I didn’t realize I was 268.”

In the four years since, Gee said he tried everything, and only figured out what worked for him in the last six or seven months. He credited his wife’s patience as a crucial factor, then turned it into a warning about what happens when that support isn’t there.

“Could you imagine what my resentment for my wife would be if she, the whole time, was rolling her eyes? ‘Oh, OK. Sure, let’s see how long this is going to last,’ and then when you finally get on that other end, and you’re successful, I can see a part of these relationships breaking down because of just that,” Gee said.

“The best thing to do is to try to just grow with your partner. Period,” he added.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.