Tag: Affordable Care Act

It is too soon to predict the fate of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), or, as we call it, TrumpRyanCare. But, the AHCA as currently proposed – and the debate among Republicans over its provisions – represents a significant statement. That statement: the core provisions of the ACA regarding insurance market reforms now appear […] Read more »

There is a lot of talk in Washington about repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – Obamacare. The question for Medicare beneficiaries is–how will any changes affect you? The most important direct impact is that Medicare beneficiaries could pay more for prescription drugs. Here’s why: •      Under Medicare’s prescription drug coverage (Part D) there is […] Read more »

As the Administration and Congress move forward with new health care proposals (Trump/RyanCare), they are grappling with the true meaning of “repeal and replace.” This blog post will describe one way of looking at how different groups are likely to be impacted by repeal and replace under “Trump/RyanCare.” Market Access vs Financial Access The Affordable […] Read more »

I have described the likelihood that, in a post-ACA world, the federal government will step back and the states will have more flexibility and responsibility. The next key player in this equation is the insurance industry. The ACA created a substantial web of requirements and prohibitions that applied to insurance companies—including rules requiring that carriers insure all applicants, that premiums could not vary based on applicants’ health status, that (in effect) younger applicants subsidize the cost of older applicants, and that limited the companies’ profits from health insurance. Read more »

If the federal government reduces its role in US health insurance markets in the post-ACA world, many of the rules imposed on insurance companies by the federal government under ACA will be eliminated or reduced. For example, the ACA contains rules on benefits that must be covered by individual and small group insurance policies and rules limiting insurance carriers’ ability to underwrite policies based on preexisting conditions. In a post-ACA world with a diminished federal role, regulation of insurance companies will be a state matter—which was the status of these areas before the enactment of ACA. Read more »

The role of the federal government will decrease in other ways. For example, federal subsidies to enable lower- and middle- income to purchase health insurance are likely to be scaled back, converted to tax credits or eliminated. Read more »