|
Years ago when I worked in the Congress, I remember the debates centered around healthcare and what would eventually become the Affordable Care Act. At the time, many opponents argued that a simpler way to reduce the number of uninsured Americans and cut costs would be to take aggressive steps and enroll more of the uninsured into Medicaid or Medicare (depending upon the circumstances). Setting politics aside for the moment, I recall there being groups of small businesses with a perspective about the marketplace and proposed exchanges, self-employed individuals with another point of view, large corporations with extensive coverage with yet another view, and so on.
In the first years after the law, coverage expanded rapidly as new insurance marketplaces connected more individuals and small business owners with coverage. More people with insurance meant more visits to doctors and hospitals, which added cost to insurance premiums and put more pressure on healthcare providers, just as we were entering the massive retirement phase of the Baby Boomer generation. When COVID hit, the nation faced a potential crisis with millions out of work and a health insurance market for individuals and small employers that was often too expensive.
To relieve the insurance expense many businesses were experiencing, the Biden Administration and Congress provided individuals with significant subsidies to help lower the cost of healthcare premiums. In Delaware, average premiums for silver plans have dropped by more than half from 2019 to 2024. But those subsidies are about to expire, and without action by the next Congress and administration, those healthcare insurance costs will jump sharply higher. As we enter election season, and regardless of your views related to the subsidies or the ACA itself, it would be prudent of business leaders to ask candidates for federal office what they intend to do on an issue of this magnitude.
| 
