CBO Outlines Health Insurance Coverage Losses After ACA Changes

A new report projects health insurance coverage losses between 2018 and 2028 for people under age 65 as a result of changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by the Trump administration.

The

report, from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation, indicated that the percentage of those who are uninsured will rise from 11% in 2018 to 13% by 2028.

Between this year and next year, the agencies project that the number of insured people

will rise by 3 million, mainly because the elimination of the individual mandate premiums in the nongroup market will contribute to pushing premiums higher.

President Trump eliminated the mandate

in December 2017 as part of his tax package. The administration also cut cost-sharing reduction

(CSRs) subsidies to health insurers last October. The CSRs were used to compensate insurers for providing lower-income consumers with silver-level ACA plans.

Thursday’s report outlined the effect of federal subsidies for health insurance for people under 65, including the cost of preferential tax treatment for work-related insurance coverage, the cost of Medicaid and Medicare coverage for people under age 65, and government payments for other kinds of health insurance coverage, mainly those purchased through ACA exchanges.

Click to continue reading on The American Journal of Managed Care.