3 ms·

The individual markets were already a mess.

• ivraatiems 9y ago
  That was the talking point, and may have been true in a couple of places (especially those states that refused to expand Medicaid or only did the minimum to comply with the law), but I'm aware of no evidence that was true overall.
  • emodendroket 9y ago
    Costs in Massachusetts did not go down when an analogous plan was enacted. Obamacare may have been better than nothing but it was not good.
• ceejayoz 9y ago
  They were briefly a mess, while insurers worked out the numbers - what to charge, how many young healthy folks would take the penalty, etc. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/04/obamacare-health-insurers-see-improved-financial-performance-in-2017.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/04/obamacare-health-insurers-se... > That report instead finds that the Obamacare market has continued "stabilizing," and that insurers are "regaining profitability" despite continued political uncertainty over the health-care law. For a bit of anecdotal data, my premiums went up 2% last year, after 17% the previous year. I also got a $500 refund as they'd exceeded the 20% non-medical costs cap.
• maxerickson 9y ago
  That doesn't really excuse the political cowardice of undermining the system while leaving most of it in place. I guess we are pretty screwed though, there's no willingness to prop up the buy side of the market and no willingness to make regulatory changes that would negatively impact incumbents on the sell side. (the fair, "market based" approach to decreasing medical costs in the US is to dramatically increase the number of doctors and mid-level providers).