Comstock's magazine 1117 - November 2017 | Page 37

in the individual market and maybe be eligible for subsidies. The effects aren’ t all that clear to me. It’ s very clear though that the individual penalty makes a difference. But there may be options, such as auto enrollment, such as continuous coverage requirements that could serve many of the purposes of the individual mandate. Those are good discussions that I’ d hope a functional Congress would be talking about in a bipartisan way.

What possibilities would you suggest the U. S. Senate look at to bolster the ACA?

One thing would be permanent funding of the current health care and reduction subsidies. Having something that health plans can count on over the long term will provide stability. No. 2, a national reinsurance program [ to help health insurers pay for the most expensive care they cover ]. The third thing is marketing dollars. Now this isn’ t an issue for California... but promoting and selling insurance is a core essential element of making markets work and the federal government should be leaning in, in a big way.

We also need to remind ourselves that just six years ago, if you had allergies you could be denied ever getting health insurance on the individual market. If you had diabetes, kiss health insurance in the future goodbye unless you got a job to

get it. If you had cancer, you wanted to keep your job forever because if you lost your job you lost insurance. If you were an insurance company six years ago in the individual market, you won as a business by avoiding sick people. Now insurance companies win by having good prices, providing quality care and keeping people in regardless of health status. If there are things that don’ t work in the Affordable Care Act, throw those out. But keep the elements that work, which... is about keeping people well, delivering effective care and creating a marketplace for consumers. •

Rich Ehisen is the managing editor of State Net Capitol Journal. His work has appeared in Sunset, San Francisco Magazine, California Journal, Sacramento Magazine and the Lexis Legal Network. On Twitter @ WordsmithRich.

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