How Do You Solve aProblem Like Maria’s? Rescind Biden’s Short‐Term Plans Proposal.
pa href=https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon hreflang=undMichael F. Cannon/a
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pPresident Biden has a href=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/07/12/2023-14238/short-term-limited-duration-insurance-independent-noncoordinated-excepted-benefits-coverageproposed/a requiring insurers (1) to cancel short‐term health insurance plans after four months and (2) to refuse to re‐enroll those patients. I’ve a href=https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/4087396-bidens-new-plan-threatens-health-coverage-for-more-than-half-a-million-people/written previously/a about how these changes would increase the number of uninsured U.S. residents by 500,000./p
pThe Biden administration believes those changes are necessary to force people into ObamaCare plans. They may be right. spanThe non‐partisan U.S. Congressional Budget Office a href=https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-01/54915-New_Rules_for_AHPs_STPs.pdfreports/a that for many consumers, short‐term plans offer a better deal than ObamaCare. Short‐term plans often “have lower deductibles or wider provider networks,” the agency writes, at premiums “as much as 60 percent lower than premiums for the lowest‐cost [ObamaCare] plan.” /span/p
pBut not everyone who loses access to short‐term plans can just enroll in an ObamaCare plan. Congress generally prohibits those folks from enrolling until the following January. So Biden’s proposal would throw short‐term plan enrollees, many of whom will have expensive illnesses, out of their plans and leave them with no coverage for up to 12 months./p
pEven then, ObamaCare will still be unaffordable for many people. I know one such individual personally. Let’s call her “Maria.”/p
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img loading=lazy src=/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/2023-08/maria.jpg?itok=L9w45ECv width=490 height=304 alt=Maria class=image-style-pubs-2x component-image //div
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figcaption class=figure__captiondiv class=caption p-mb-last-child-0 callout theme infoJulie Andrews as Maria in The Sound of Music (1965). /div
/figcaption/figurepMaria is an immigrant and a href=https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=35671postulant/a. That is, she is entering a monastery this year to study to become a nun. When she enters, her annual income will fall below the federal poverty line of a href=https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federal-poverty-level-fpl/$14,580/a. That’s plenty low to qualify for Medicaid but Maria’s immigration status makes her ineligible./p
pAn ObamaCare plan would cost Maria at least 33 percent of her annual income, i.e., four timesem /emthe 8.5 percent threshold that ObamaCare considers “affordable.” Why? She would have to pay the full a href=https://www.kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/$4,821/a premium herself because (ironically) her income will be emtoo/em low to receive a subsidy./p
pFortunately, under current rules, there’s a more affordable option. Maria could purchase a series of one‐year short‐term plans. She would have many a href=https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/short-term-health-insurance/plansoptions/a, with premiums ranging from $1,100–$5,300 per year and deductibles ranging from $1,000–$10,000./p
pCrucially, a short‐term plan would not require Maria to violate her religious beliefs. ObamaCare is so much more expensive in part because it would require her to purchase coverage for contraceptives and maternity care. One of those things violates her religious beliefs; neither of them she needs. Short‐term plans leave Maria free to follow her conscience by declining to pay for contraceptives./p
pPresident Biden is a self‐described pro‐immigrant Catholic. His proposal would nevertheless require this immigrant and aspiring Catholic nun to pay contraceptives‐coverage‐laden premiums that are four times higher that what Biden himself considers affordable./p
pDespite its title, the “Affordable Care Act” made health insurance less affordable for millions. Short‐term plans can help. Biden should rescind his proposal to limit them./p