Our Health Policy Matters

I have at least two members of my immediate family who would be affected directly by the so-called Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA). It could cost them – and others like them – their money and their lives. The Senate bill released this week has two important improvements over the House American Health Care Act. First, like Obamacare but unlike the House version, it requires insurers to continue to offer coverage in the regular marketplace to people with pre-existing conditions. Second, it corrects a major flaw in the Affordable Care Act – as interpreted by the Supreme Court – by extending health insurance subsidies to everyone below poverty who is ineligible for Medicaid. Today, the poorest pay the same as the richest for health insurance, because the subsidies are limited to those between 100 and 400 percent of poverty. That’s the good news. But it all quickly unravels after this. Here are ten reasons why. First, while pre-existing conditions are cove