A One-Two Punch to the Health Insurance Marketplaces and the People They Cover
<p>Yesterday, the Trump administration dealt a one-two punch to the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces and the Americans who buy their health plans through them.</p><p>In a new <em>To the Point</em> post, The Commonwealth Fund’s Sara Collins explains that the first blow was an executive order to federal agencies to write new regulations allowing the sale of insurance that doesn’t meet the ACA’s consumer protection standards. The second was the administration’s decision to end payments to insurers for the ACA’s cost-sharing reductions (CSRs), which lower deductibles and other cost-sharing for millions of lower- and moderate-income families. </p>
<p>The second punch has the power to be a knockout, Collins says, one that could trigger premium spikes and ultimately a mass exit of insurers from the marketplaces by 2019. Yet Congress has the power to appropriate funds for the payments at any time, without increasing the federal deficit. And unless lawmakers take action, the federal government will likely spend more on premium tax credits than they would have spent making CSR payments. </p>