Paul Ryan's favorite Obamacare talking point, debunked
Ask House Speaker Paul Ryan about the state of Obamacare and he has a ready response. “It’s in a death spiral,” he said Thursday at his weekly press conference. It’s a scary term, one that carries significant weight as the Ryan-led House Republicans prepare to take the first step towards repealing and replacing the law.
But there’s one problem: Obamacare isn’t in a death spiral—at least not yet.
It might sound like a dire rhetorical flourish, but to health care experts, “death spiral” has a very specific meaning: It’s what happens when premiums rise so much that young and healthy enrollees drop coverage in large numbers. When that happens, the overall mix of insured people—known as the “risk pool”—tilts toward sicker and older people. This boosts the overall cost per person, forcing insurers to raise premiums again—which causes the remaining young and healthy enrollees to drop their coverage. That pattern repeats itself until the insurance market collapses entirely, with no one able to afford insurance. It’s a worst-case scenario for any health care reform, and avoiding it is why the White House has been so determined to get young and healthy people to sign up
Read more at http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/01/paul-ryan-favorite-obamacare-talking-point-debunked-000281.
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