…it involves more subsidies for people who purchase health insurance on their own, a call for North Carolina and 18 other states to expand Medicaid, and a ‘public option’ health plan to be offered in areas of the country where people have just one insurer to choose from.
These ‘solutions’ were written by the president himself in the latest edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Check it out here.
I’ll give the president credit for owning up to some major flaws in his signature health care law, but his proposals to fix them will only exacerbate the affordability factor. When more subsidies are added to the mix, it only makes health insurance more expensive. Many consumers are experiencing this first-hand since the law’s Exchanges rolled out in 2014. Subsidized coverage is one key reason why North Carolina’s Exchange participants are calling for another round of double-digit premium increases for plans this coming Fall. Severe community rating ratios, the inability for insurers to accurately price risk, and for insurers to accept all policyholders, regardless of health status, are other contributing factors.
President Obama’s JAMA contribution comes after Paul Ryan and the GOP House released their latest Obamacare repeal and replace proposal. It’s a 37 page document full of market-oriented ideas in which patients will ideally have more choice and affordable options for their health insurance. It’s a conversation starter for reforming Medicare’s depleting trust fund and restructuring Medicaid’s financial flaws. While some ideas are hailed by Obamacare opponents, such as expanding health savings account (HSA) contributions, other ideas are criticized for being strikingly similar to the status quo – like keeping intact health insurance subsidies.
So, what is a true (and unfortunately not all that politically feasible) libertarian way to change how Americans access and pay for health care? See here and here.
