Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives On Obamacare Premiums, Exchanges And Consumer Choices
The New York Times: Obamacare Premiums Set To Rise, Even For Savvy Shoppers
In the last few years, even though premiums in the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces were rising, most customers could avoid a big price rise by shopping for a cheaper plan. Next year, according to a preliminary analysis, that is going to be a lot harder. (Margot Sanger-Katz, 9/1)
Bloomberg: Why Obamacare Can't Be What Its Supporters Want
In 2010, the problem with the U.S. health-care system was that we had a fragmented market that created regulatory headaches and all sorts of inefficiencies regarding the provision of care. We had four major government health care systems — Medicare, Medicaid/SCHIP, the Veterans Administration, and the military’s Tricare program — along with a bevy of smaller ones...Unfortunately, while basically everyone in the country thought that the U.S. health care system was as messed up as a party-school group house on graduation day, most people actually liked whatever coverage they had. (Megan McArdle, 8/31)
Forbes: How To Fix The Exchanges: Focus On Health, Not Income
Now that United Healthcare, Humana, and Aetna are dropping out of or have already left the vast majority of the ACA (Affordable Care Act) Exchanges they were previously serving, and almost three-fourths of the non-profit CO-OP insurers established by the ACA with taxpayer start-up funds have gone bankrupt or otherwise out of business, it should be clear to anyone without a political ax to grind that something about the ACA Exchange system is not just flawed, but fatally flawed. (Robert Book, 8/31)
The Fiscal Times: Obamacare’s Death Spiral Of Consumer Choice
The term “pro-choice” has a politically charged meaning, one that Democrats proudly assert when it comes to defending abortion. They also claimed that mantle for Obamacare. As we approach the fourth year of the exchanges, however, it’s clear that Democrats and Barack Obama have been as anti-choice in practice as it’s possible to be. (Edward Morrissey, 9/1)
