Health Affairs February 23, 2021
Having won control of the Senate, albeit with the slimmest of margins, Democrats will need to at least partially fulfill campaign promises to make ACA marketplace coverage more affordable.
The draft COVID relief legislation introduced in the Ways and Means Committee on February 8 would reduce the percentage of income paid by marketplace enrollees for a “benchmark” silver plan at every income level, and remove the cap on subsidy eligibility, so that no one who lacks access to other insurance would pay more than 8.5 percent of income for the benchmark plan. Those changes would remain in effect for two years, and Democrats will likely attempt to make similar subsidy boosts permanent in subsequent legislation.
While reducing premiums, the COVID...