1. In 2015
There was a provision in the ACA called "risk-corridors" where heath insurers were given funds
if at the end of the year, there were too many sick people and they ended up with a negative cash flow over all of their state markets. That happened in 2013, 2014, 2015 while maintaining Obama’s annual reduction in the annual deficit (see ** below)
But Marco Rubio’s 2015 bill curtailed that for 2016 to 13% of what it was in 2015. He claimed it was a “bailout” for the health insurers, and it was, but that enabled many people to be covered.
After that bill, the insurers dropped out of many counties markets in 2016. Particularly hard hit were the smaller plans in smaller counties; thus the reduction to having only "1/3 of the counties having more than 1 plan” - a Republican talking point. It killed competition, but the Republicans had another talking point about ObamaCare being in a “death spiral” with no competition. Now some insurers stay in those now marginally profitable counties but only by increasing premiums (one in Arizona went up 122%) and/or deductibles. Thus the Republicans had another talking point - "premiums are skyrocketing”.
Truth is all three talking points (in quotes above) were caused by the Rubio Bill.
2. Since Trump’s inauguration, he (or perhaps Price) directed that HHS take down ObamaCare registration online. That ought to be illegal while a law is in effect; but they did it. Read
Trump also gave an Executive Order within 5 days of taking office negating the teeth of the mandates. Read . That did not change the execution of ObamaCare but it dis say to the young & healthy do not get insurance, you will probably not have any penalty (money needed to make ObamaCare healthy).
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So we have Republicans sabotaging ObamaCare. Truth is the GOP plan without mandates to the young (who think they will not get sick) will both increase the ratio of sick older people in the plans (and thus increasing premiums and making less people able to pay) as well as upping the number of people showing up in ER (thus increasing costs even to those who have group plans). I suspect the GOP Plan will result in the "death spiral” (but I’ll admit that the CBO has said that both plans would be “stable”)
So much to more to say about this - e.g. listen to : .
But the real best approach is a single payer plan like every other OECD country who do heat care for half the cost with better outcomes (as I've said many times before). Don’t tell me it can’t work.
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** The peak annual deficit was in 2009. It was a Bush budget with the big increase from 2008 being caused by the deregulation-caused recession. Such deregulation fever could easily take us down again. But that is another subject and it is dinnertime.
Informed by Data.
Driven by the SPIRIT and JESUS’s Example.
Promoting the Kingdom of GOD on Earth.