With the Democrats once again securing control of the White House and Congress, the spotlight has returned to the Affordable Care Act. The ACA is all set to be fortified under the presidency of Joe Biden, who had a key role in its enactment as the deputy of Barack Obama. According to Cynthia Cox, director for the Program on the ACA, the health Act may see four major changes. She believes a lot of efforts will be made to restore the ACA to how it looked under the Obama administration.
- Addressing deductibles could be one of the changes in the ACA. The Biden administration may peg subsidies to gold plans instead of silver plans in order to make it easier for people to afford a lower deductible plan. These plans are similar to employer-based coverage.
- According to Cox, the second change in the ACA could be increasing subsidies for those who are eligible, like the people earning anything between one and four times the poverty level. Reducing premium payments to enable eligible individuals to pay only 8% of their income but on a gold plan could be among the changes.
- Another likely change is making subsidies accessible to people who aren’t eligible. The step would benefit the people who are in the below-the-poverty-line category and live in states that didn’t expand Medicaid. The government is likely to expand the amount of subsidies available on the exchange to support these people. For those living way above the poverty line, the subsidy eligibility cutoff could be hiked.
- Reaching out to people who have unaffordable employer coverage could be the fourth tweak of the Biden administration to the ACA. This move will be beneficial for the people who under the law have an option for coverage, but through the employer of their spouse. To make this an affordable scheme, the administration may do away with the firewall between employer coverage and the exchange. This, according to Cox, would enable people who have employer coverage to switch to coverage through the exchange for a better deal.