Trump Cuts Health Care Subsidies and Promises Better Health Care

Yesterday, President Trump announced that he will cut the health care subsidies to health insurance companies for people who receive cost share reductions on their health plans. Doing so will affect the premiums paid for health insurance because the insurance companies will need to increase rates to offset the cost that they will not longer be subsidized for.

While this is something that Trump said he would do, the insurance commissioners and insurance companies took the approach to planning and pricing the plans for 2018 as if they would not be receiving these subsidies. So, the premiums increases you will see for 2018 are significantly higher compared to the last few years rate increases.

For people who are on the Marketplace receiving subsidized plans they will continue to receive the A Premium Tax Credit to help lower their monthly premiums however. If your income and family size falls within the chart below you will be losing the cost share reduction that lowers the amount you pay to receive medical care.

An example would be if your plan had a $50 copayment to visit your doctor but you qualified for the Cost Share Reduction (CSR) based on your income then it could potentially bring your new copayment to $10. And so with Trump deciding to cut the subsidies it will eliminate that lower copay.

President Trump also signed an executive order on Thursday to allow alternative health plans that skirt the law’s requirements. What this is doing is allowing for insurance companies to start offering plans that don’t need to meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and causing for more competition among the insurance companies.

In Trump’s statement he said he would like to “increase competition, increase choice and increase access to lower priced high quality health care options.” He also went on to say “we aim to allow more small businesses to form associations to buy affordable and competitive health insurance, this would open up additional options for employers to purchase health plans their workers want.”

Could this be the end of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or as we know it Obamacare? If it is or isn’t I do believe we need to all stand up for what’s right and allow everyone to have access to affordable health care in America.

We need to stand for what’s right and that is to allow every person to have the best quality of life they can. Please check back soon for some thoughts on how we can improve the health of our society while reducing costs for health care. Have a wonderful day and thank you for taking the time to read this. If I can be of any assistance please feel free to contact us.

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