Obamacare's Exchange-Based Health Insurance Will Be Better Than Medicaid. But How Much Costlier?
So far in 2013, the most significant—and least appreciated—development in health reform is the news that the Obama administration is allowing Arkansas to apply Obamacare’s subsidized insurance exchanges to the low-income population that was supposed to receive Medicaid. As I noted last week, this development has the potential to completely reshape the landmark 2010 health-care law, in a way that provides higher-quality, but more expensive, private insurance to the poor. But there’s a key question to which we don’t know the answer: how much more expensive will exchange-based coverage be?
So far in 2013, the most significant—and least appreciated—development in health reform is the news that the Obama administration is allowing Arkansas to apply Obamacare’s subsidized insurance exchanges to the low-income population that was supposed to receive Medicaid. As I noted last week, this development has the potential to completely reshape the landmark 2010 health-care law, in a way that provides higher-quality, but more expensive, private insurance to the poor. But there’s a key question to which we don’t know the answer: how much more expensive will exchange-based coverage be?