Post by Logan on Mar 19, 2017 5:56:29 GMT -6
The Only Viable Health Insurance Reform is a Single Payer System
By Oren M. Levin-Waldman, Ph.D.
The Democrats seek to maintain the Affordable Care Act (ACA) regardless of its shortcomings, if for no other reason than the Republicans don’t like it. Meanwhile, the Republicans seek to repeal and replace because they promised that they would. We all understand the politics of healthcare: Republicans and conservatives still believe that the marketplace will adequately provide if only government will stop interfering. For liberals and Democrats, the healthcare market is not the same as other markets and given rising costs it needs to be guaranteed by government.
Aside from these ethical claims, there is the obvious question of how healthcare reform affects the labor market. Let’s consider our options at the moment. Under the ACA, employers with more than 50 employees are supposed to provide insurance to those working a minimum of 30 hours a week. Those who aren’t offered insurance through their employers are eligible to buy insurance through exchanges and get subsidies to purchase insurance. A family of four, then, earning 400 times the poverty level, roughly $96,000 a year, would qualify for a subsidy. Additionally, insurance companies must accept people with preexisting conditions and individuals are required to purchase insurance or pay a penalty if they do not.
Critics have argued that the employer mandate to insure workers only encourages employers to cut worker hours. Workers who cannot afford insurance or who choose not to purchase it will simply opt to pay the penalty. Employers might also find it more cost-effective to pay the penalties for not providing insurance. The individual mandates that were supposed to broaden the insurance pool thereby lowering premiums, has done anything but.
On the contrary, because all plans offered must meet certain standards and provide certain minimum benefits, premiums have been driven up. For those purchasing at the bottom of the exchange, the deductibles for many are prohibitively expensive, effectively putting many back in the same position they were in prior to the ACA.
Read more: www.yonkerstribune.com/2017/03/the-only-viable-health-insurance-reform-is-a-single-payer-system-by-oren-m-levin-waldman-ph-d
By Oren M. Levin-Waldman, Ph.D.
The Democrats seek to maintain the Affordable Care Act (ACA) regardless of its shortcomings, if for no other reason than the Republicans don’t like it. Meanwhile, the Republicans seek to repeal and replace because they promised that they would. We all understand the politics of healthcare: Republicans and conservatives still believe that the marketplace will adequately provide if only government will stop interfering. For liberals and Democrats, the healthcare market is not the same as other markets and given rising costs it needs to be guaranteed by government.
Aside from these ethical claims, there is the obvious question of how healthcare reform affects the labor market. Let’s consider our options at the moment. Under the ACA, employers with more than 50 employees are supposed to provide insurance to those working a minimum of 30 hours a week. Those who aren’t offered insurance through their employers are eligible to buy insurance through exchanges and get subsidies to purchase insurance. A family of four, then, earning 400 times the poverty level, roughly $96,000 a year, would qualify for a subsidy. Additionally, insurance companies must accept people with preexisting conditions and individuals are required to purchase insurance or pay a penalty if they do not.
Critics have argued that the employer mandate to insure workers only encourages employers to cut worker hours. Workers who cannot afford insurance or who choose not to purchase it will simply opt to pay the penalty. Employers might also find it more cost-effective to pay the penalties for not providing insurance. The individual mandates that were supposed to broaden the insurance pool thereby lowering premiums, has done anything but.
On the contrary, because all plans offered must meet certain standards and provide certain minimum benefits, premiums have been driven up. For those purchasing at the bottom of the exchange, the deductibles for many are prohibitively expensive, effectively putting many back in the same position they were in prior to the ACA.
Read more: www.yonkerstribune.com/2017/03/the-only-viable-health-insurance-reform-is-a-single-payer-system-by-oren-m-levin-waldman-ph-d