Yesterday Kevin Drum pointed out two more examples of the results of Trump’s efforts to sabotage Obamacare, mainly by hinting he will refuse to permit the legally required cost sharing reduction payments to be made but refusing to say definitely. In California insurance companies are being required to put a 12.5 percent surcharge on Silver plan premiums to deal with the problem (though in the end this will effect only the highest income 20 percent or so whose premiums aren’t subsidized), while in New Hampshire, where the individual market had stabilized, next year’s policies will be much worse in terms of out-of-pocket spending, which premium subsidies won’t cover. Drum concludes,
And by the way: even if Trump succeeds in destroying Obamacare, it’s still the law of the land. Insurers will still be required to insure anyone who asks for coverage, regardless of pre-existing conditions. That’s untenable, and the only response from the insurance industry will be to eliminate individual insurance coverage completely. Somebody on Capitol Hill better cotton to this pretty quick and—somehow—get Trump to lay off. If the Republican Party literally ends up eliminating the entire individual health insurance market, there aren’t words in the dictionary for how big a loss they’ll suffer in 2020.
For what it’s worth, I previously posted about this on September 2, October 3, and October 9. I’m surprised it isn’t getting more coverage in the national news media.
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