In a weekend interview with the Washington Post, President-elect Trump said he’s nearly finished crafting an Obamacare replacement plan that will have “much lower deductibles” and provide “insurance for everybody.”
Mainstream publications predic
Jonathon Cohn wrote in the Huffington Post, “None of the plans Republicans have discussed would come close to covering everybody with lower out-of-pocket spending, simply because doing so would require the kind of approach Democrats have in mind much more federal spending.”
Paul Waldman of the Washington Post said, “The Republican plan, in whatever final form it takes, will absolutely, positively not cover everyone.”
What these pundits don’t realize is that Trump and his fellow Republicans don’t need to spend huge sums of taxpayer money to cover more people. In fact, an Obamacare replacement plan could cover more people with more reliable insurance simply by allowing individuals to buy less expensive health plans.
They can start by repealing Obamacare’s coverage standards that make it harder for people to access healthcare services. Consider Obamacare’
These are important for some people, sure. But the law requires men, and women who are past childbearing age, to have expensive maternity care included in their coverage.
Although Obamacare successfully coerced many health insurers to cover lots of new benefits, they make it harder than ever to access them. Insurers responded to Obamacare’s coverage mandates by raising deductibles and other out-of-pocket fees to discourage individuals from using these services. According to Health Pocket, the least expensive Obamacare health plans, bronze plans, cost $6,000 for individuals and $12,393 for families in 2017.
These exorbitantly high deductibles make it almost impossible for most Obamacare enrollees, especially low-income people, to utilize these benefits. A Bankrate.com survey from 2015 found that 63 percent of Americans lack the savings to pay for an unexpected $1,000 stay in the emergency room.
Health insurers also responded to Obamacare’s new regulations by shrinking their provider networks to constrain their members’ access to skilled specialists. A report by the consulting giant McKinsey and Company found that 75 percent of all health plans on Obamacare’s exchanges are Health Maintenance Organizations and other types of plans that tightly restrict which hospitals and doctors patients can visit. That’s a major increase from 2015 when narrow-network plans comprised only 55 percent of Obamacare’s options.
Trump and congressional Republicans can expand far better coverage to greater numbers of people simply by allowing people to enroll in low-cost, less-comprehensive coverage. Just about every Republican Obamaca
Once people are free to choose less expensive plans, the federal government could expand coverage more cost-effectively than Obamacare.
The president of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, Avik Roy, recently introduced an Obamacare replacement proposal titled Tr
Trump and congressional Republicans campaigned on repealing and replacing Obamacare with better and cheaper coverage. Now, they just need to unite around a concrete plan. Getting rid of Obamacare’s “essential” health benefits requirement is a good start.
Charlie Katebi is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is an advocate at Young Voices. His opinions are his own. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
