HEALTHCARE/OBAMACARE(ACA): “Insurers selling Affordable Care Act plans have a compelling new pitch: free health insurance.
When sales of plans on the law’s exchanges begin Nov. 1, a growing number of consumers around the country will be able to get coverage for 2018 without paying any monthly premium, according to health insurers and an analysis of newly available federal data.
In nearly all of the 2,722 counties included in the data, some consumers will be able to obtain free health insurance because they qualify for larger federal premium subsidies that cover the full cost of a plan, according to the new analysis.
The growing availability of no-premium plans is a side effect of a decision by President Donald Trump’s administration to end federal payments that are used to reduce out-of-pocket costs, such as deductibles, for low-income enrollees. The administration didn’t halt—and indirectly bolstered—the federal subsidies that help consumers with their insurance premiums.
The new analysis doesn’t project exactly how many consumers could be eligible for the no-premium plans, a figure that depends on variables including people’s income, household size, age, location and access to other types of health coverage…
Insurers hope the no-premium insurance draws in more enrollees, particularly those they need most: people with few health needs. Healthy consumers help bolster the stability of the market by balancing out the health costs of sicker enrollees.”
-Anna Wilde Mathews and Christopher Weaver, “More ACA Plans to Come With No Premiums in 2018,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 27, 2017 05:30am