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Democrats Try to Stop Short Term Health Insurance Coverage

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Senator Schumer speaks about the importance of equality at the It Gets Better press conference. Photo courtesy of the office of Senator Chris Coons.

Last year, the Trump administration allowed for short-term, limited-duration health insurance. It is a viable option for healthy people who earn too much for subsidies and are being charged too much for ACA coverage, explains the WSJ.

Democrats claim these plans are designed to trick Americans, calling them “garbage.” Nancy Pelosi tweeted that the Trump Administration “is fighting to replace many Americans’ health care with junk insurance policies that are allowed to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions.”

Negligible Effect on Premiums

Democrats claim the short-term rule would siphon patients from the exchanges and send premiums soaring, which has not happened. Chris Pope of the Manhattan Institute noted in a paper last week that Affordable Care Act premiums increased 3% on average for 2019, and that 92 of 124 requested rate increases didn’t even mention short-term insurance as a significant factor in higher rates. The effect on premiums has been negligible.

Mr. Pope examines Fulton County in Georgia, where ObamaCare premiums hover around the national average and multiple insurers compete on the exchange. Short-term insurance is available, consistent with the new federal rules.

Anyone with a tough medical condition and modest earnings will likely be better off on the exchanges, where coverage is generously subsidized. But plenty of Americans may conclude that short-term plans are better.

Democrats Response to Individual Choice?

In the words of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: “Democrats will do everything in our power to stop this.”

Read more here.

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Debbie Young

Debbie, editor-in-chief of Richardcyoung.com, has been associate editor of Dick Young’s investment strategy reports for over three decades. When not in Key West, Debbie spends her free time researching and writing in and about Paris and Burgundy, France, cooking on her AGA Cooker, driving her Porsche Boxter S through Vermont and Maine, and practicing yoga.