By Grace-Marie Turner & Doug Badger — A few states have found a key to undoing some of Obamacare’s damage to their individual health insurance markets by redirecting some federal funding to help sick people. These states are providing separate assistance to those with the highest health costs, thereby reducing premiums and increasing enrollment for healthy people driven out of the market by … [Read more...] about Several States Have Found Ways To Mitigate Obamacare’s Damage To Their Health Insurance Markets
ObamaCare
Obamacare Is A Political Nightmare That’s Not Going Anywhere. Here’s A Solution
Congressional Republicans, who ran against Obamacare through four election cycles, have spent most of the past year running away from it. But they are finding the law hard to escape. Democrats who once shied away from Obamacare now can’t stop talking about it. They are blaming Republicans for the next round of premium increases that will become finalized in the weeks leading up to the November … [Read more...] about Obamacare Is A Political Nightmare That’s Not Going Anywhere. Here’s A Solution
Breaking promises: GOP resuscitate Obamacare with massive bailout
Congressional Republicans who repeatedly pledged to repeal and replace Obamacare instead are racing today to rescue the law with truckloads of federal cash. Their plan: a multi-billion-dollar bailout of health insurers that sell Obamacare policies. In return, the insurers promise to reduce premiums just in time for November’s elections. Congress shouldn’t jump at this politically tantalizing … [Read more...] about Breaking promises: GOP resuscitate Obamacare with massive bailout
How Obamacare Raised Premiums
The seismic effects of the Affordable Care Act on insurance markets continue to be felt nearly eight years after its enactment. Premiums for individual coverage more than doubled between 2013 and 2017. Much of that increase resulted from Obamacare’s new regulations. Some regulations—such as essential health benefits and actuarial value requirements—had discrete effects on premiums. A cluster of … [Read more...] about How Obamacare Raised Premiums
Obamacare’s Individual Mandate Is Repealing Itself
The Senate this week is expected to vote on a tax bill that includes a controversial provision to repeal Obamacare’s tax penalty on the uninsured. Democrats and some conservative policy analysts fret that if Congress scuttles the so-called individual mandate, insurance premiums will rise. The reverse may be closer to the truth: Premiums for Obamacare policies next year will be so high that … [Read more...] about Obamacare’s Individual Mandate Is Repealing Itself
Obamacare Is Uninsuring the Insured
The law expanded coverage among the poor at the expense of coverage among the middle class. The number of people with individual health-insurance coverage is shrinking. Despite $146 billion in federal subsidies to low-income households and well-capitalized insurers, 2.6 million fewer people had individual policies in March 2017 than in March 2016, a drop of nearly 15 percent. The most … [Read more...] about Obamacare Is Uninsuring the Insured
Senate Obamacare Debate Is About Money, Not Compassion
A new government report explains why Republicans, after nine years of opposing Obamacare, are having such a hard time repealing it. The answer: It’s pretty much about the money. It’s not about providing Medicaid coverage to low-income adults. Some moderate Republicans who profess concern for the needy are actually trying to shift more of the cost of providing them Medicaid coverage from their … [Read more...] about Senate Obamacare Debate Is About Money, Not Compassion
Free the Obamacare 15 Million
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) today warned lawmakers that 15 million people will lose medical coverage next year if the Senate GOP’s health-care bill becomes law. That’s not quite accurate. CBO doesn’t believe that millions will “lose” their insurance in 2018. Instead, the agency thinks that millions will happily cancel their coverage — even those who get it for free. The reason: The … [Read more...] about Free the Obamacare 15 Million