According to The Washington Post, the Affordable Care Act is not only working, it is “working brilliantly.”
Here is a taste of the Post‘s editorial page:
The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, is a big reason why. It has been expensive, entailing an expansion of government-run Medicaid to cover people around and below the poverty line and subsidies for higher earners to buy individual insurance plans on marketplaces the law created. Yet stable health coverage enables people to receive preventive care and other services that can reduce costs in the long run. By freeing people from health-care “job lock” — dependence on their employers for health insurance — the system also promotes labor mobility and entrepreneurship.
Obamacare is working particularly well now, thanks to temporary subsidies that President Joe Biden signed into law with the 2021 American Rescue Plan and extended with the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. These enhancements boosted financial assistance for people eligible to buy private insurance on the marketplaces — that is, people at the poverty line (which for individuals equates to about $15,000 in annual income) and up. Premiums became more affordable. Insurance pools work best when many people buy in, spreading widely individuals’ risk of big health costs. Enrollment on these platforms has increased from 11 million in 2020 to 21 million this year. By persuading more people to get coverage, lower sticker costs made the Obamacare marketplaces more robust.
Large surges have come in Texas, Florida and Georgia, accounting for half of the growth in the past two years.
Yet there are caveats. First, the enhancements will expire after 2025. Second, a quirk in the law — along with stubborn Republican opposition to Obamacare — has left some 2 million people out of the system. The law envisioned Medicaid covering all those beneath the poverty line, but 10 states have refused to expand the program to cover all people in that category. (This was not a drafting error; after the law passed, the Supreme Court declared that states must have the option of rejecting Medicaid expansion.) Some of these people fall into a coverage gap: being ineligible for Medicaid in their state and for federal help to buy private insurance. Many work in industries that don’t offer employer-paid health plans. Most are people of color.
Read the entire editorial here.