16.08.2017 09.11 CDT
It may be helpful for members of Congress to remember some key actuarial principles as they continue to consider changes to the health care system.
Large Numbers, Risk Pooling and Congress
As Congress continues to discuss changes to the Affordable Care Act, it may be helpful to share some actuarial and insurance fundamentals.
As Republican legislators continue their efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, they keep on looking for new ways to separate portions the insurance markets into different segments. These efforts run counter to some key actuarial and insurance principles: segmenting the risk pool increases volatility and that creation of different risk pools based on health status can lead to increased premiums for many.
13.07.2017 06.27 CDT
Senate Republicans have released a revised version of their health care proposal. The Senate version is substantially similar to the bill released by the Senate Republicans in June, but with a handful of changes intended to win support from key Republican holdouts.
Senate Revises Health Care Bill
The much-anticipated revision of the Republican Senate health care proposal has arrived.
Senate Republicans have released their revised proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The revised proposal makes a handful of significant changes to the Senate proposal released in June.
29.06.2017 12.43 CDT
Proposals to repeal and replace the ACA contain many provisions to shift health care costs. Unfortunately, they do not do enough to actually reduce costs.
Don’t Confuse Cost Shifting with Cost Savings
Legislative Efforts to Repeal ACA Do Not Reduce Health Care Costs
The Congressional proposals to replace the Affordable Care Act create winners and losers - and may reduce insurance premiums for some of these winners. But shifting costs around does not really reduce national health care costs. This represents a missed opportunity – there are things Congress could do to that might actually lower costs.
22.06.2017 06.16 CDT
Senate Republicans have released their proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The proposal reflects a number of choices made by the Senators – over which provisions of ACA to repeal, which provisions to retain, and how to delegate more responsibility for controversial actions to individual states.
Senate Republicans have released their proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The bill, named “The Better Care Reconciliation Act,” repeals many provisions of the ACA - especially tax provisions contained in the ACA. The bill also makes significant changes to the non-tax provisions of the ACA. In addition to the changes actually contained in the bill, the BCRA delegates tremendous autonomy to the states to eliminate many other feature of the ACA.