Needing to Subsidize ACA Market Doesn’t Show It Failed, Every Plan Is Like That
On Friday’s edition of NBC’s “Meet the Press Now,” Kathleen Sebelius, former Secretary of Health and Human Services, argued that the need to subsidize people purchasing health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace does not show that the system doesn’t work because “every health plan in the United States is subsidized by the federal government,” and is therefore “totally in line with every other plan in the entire marketplace.”
Host Garrett Haake asked, “Something like 92% of enrollees in the ACA marketplace are receiving these enhanced premium subsidies. Is that a sign that this system isn’t actually working as it’s intended, if that many people essentially need additional help?”
Sebelius responded: “In fact, every health plan in the United States is subsidized by the federal government, some more than others. And the Affordable Care Act plans are the least subsidized at this point. Medicaid is almost entirely subsidized. Medicare is heavily subsidized. Every employer plan, everyone who works for a large company or a small company that gets a job through their company, has a subsidy. They don’t see it. Employers cancel it, Tax free, they They benefit from a large pool, so it’s not unusual. These are people buying insurance out of their own pocket for themselves and their families, and the fact that they need additional help is totally in line with every other plan in the entire market.
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