Part of the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion spending bill would make permanent the temporary expansion of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies for individual market health insurance included in the American Rescue Plan Act earlier this year.
Premium affordability in the individual market is without question a problem. However, the ACA directly contributes to this affordability problem and simply throwing money at the problem is no way to fix it. Rather, it’s a perfect example of throwing good money after bad. The end result will be an even more dysfunctional individual market with weaker competition, higher premiums for the unsubsidized, and poorer coverage options for people with pre-existing conditions.
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