Today's Managing Health Care Costs Number is $2.3 billion
Kaiser Family Foundation has projected what will happen if the Trump Administration goes "nuclear" and stops paying insurers for the cost sharing reduction (CSR) subsidies for those under 250% of the federal poverty level.
The CSRs are required by the Affordable Care Act - so the insurers must offer lower out of pocket costs whether or not the feds pay them back.
One possibility is that insurers will just give up -and figure that if they are likely to be "out" $9 billion or more - they'll simply abandon the exchange market. KFF has assumed that they will instead raise premiums to cover the CSR cost. Since the majority of enrollees get some subsidy- the increased costs will in fact be paid for by the feds anyway in tax credits that Trump cannot cease without legislation.
So - eliminating the CSRs is a trifecta, and will enrage pretty much everyone.
- Those who get no subsidies will see premiums go up 20% or more, and face less choice of insurance pla
- The insurers could see further shrinkage of the market - making the ACA exchanges even less viable
- The government will pay more anyway!
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