The Wall Street Journal published another commentary by Galen Senior Fellow Brian Blase about the damage the ACA has done to individual health coverage. He also describes efforts by the Trump administration to broaden choices and make insurance more affordable. Here are highlights:
Biden’s Plan for Health is Already a Failure
ObamaCare was supposed to improve the individual market. It made it worse.
By Brian Blase
The Wall Street Journal. Nov. 10, 2019
ObamaCare largely failed in its primary goal—to create a better market for individual health insurance. The ObamaCare exchanges are performing much worse than expected when they were launched in 2014.
Premiums more than doubled by 2017. As a result, the exchanges have become a high-risk pool for lower-income people with a limited selection of plans, most of which exclude top doctors and facilities.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2014 that there would be 25 million enrollees covered in the exchanges in 2019. The actual figure is about 10 million, with healthy people dropping out because of costs…Overall individual market enrollment is up only three million people since ObamaCare took effect despite more than $50 billion a year in new taxpayer subsidies.
The left has accused the Trump administration of sabotaging ObamaCare. In reality it took steps to stop the bleeding and to improve options for those left behind with rules allowing short-term plans, association health plans, and health reimbursement arrangements. HRAs are expected to add more than seven million people to the individual market—all without any new mandates or federal spending.
In addition, legislation eliminating the individual mandate provides $45 billion a year in economic benefit to American consumers.
Candidates, including former Vice President Joe Biden, who want to build on the ACA are ignoring the reality that the law failed because of its perverse construction.