Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

jeff47

(26,549 posts)
3. It can't work in the long run.
Sun Feb 7, 2016, 01:00 PM
Feb 2016

The subsidies are based on federal poverty level, which more-or-less will go up with inflation.

Insurance premiums are based on medical costs. While medical costs are growing a bit slower under the ACA, they are still growing faster than inflation. And WAAAAY faster than wages.

So after not too much time, we're going to end up with a lot of people who can not afford insurance premiums, yet make too much for the subsidies. And there isn't a way to fix that - increasing the subsidy limit just buys more time. As well as being utterly unable to pass Congress.

Fundamentally, we need to rein in medical costs. And the ACA can't do that because it relies on private insurers to do that. Private insurers make more money if medical costs go up, due to the medical loss ratio limit.

That's why the ACA was sold as a "stepping stone" to Democrats. It can not work as the end-state.

Latest Discussions»Retired Forums»2016 Postmortem»Dear Hillary, you are wro...»Reply #3