General Discussion

Also sometimes you have to stop the bleeding today to fix the underlying problem. Extending previously intentionally short term subsidies isn't going to address the root cause of spiraling health care costs.

If we extend the subsidies so that nobody making 4x the federal poverty level pays no more than 8.4% of their income, that does nothing to stop the rise in cost and keeps shifting more of the unsustainably rising costs to the government, leaving nobody any incentive to lower costs.

The two biggest insurance companies in Massachusetts, both nonprofits with tighter requirements on spending premiums on care than under the ACA, lost more than 700 million last year and are on track to do similarly this year. Capping ACA premiums isn't closing that gap. It isn't addressing the rise people not on the ACA from seeing sharp roses in premiums or deductibles. We need a reimagined way to address costs. It's pharmacy, it's the increased labor costs, it's increased cost of supplies, rent, etc.