The article, “How Would The Senate Discussion Draft Affect Individually-Purchased Health Coverage?“, caught my attention. As a person who opted to not purchase health insurance in 2017, I hate to give advice to those folks still trying to make this pig fly but here goes.

Still Searching For Affordable Health Care Options

Prior to the ACA the individual market was the only health insurance market that demanded affordable health insurance.  Compared to the small, medium, and large business markets, the individual market was aggressively priced in most states in 2011. The price increases I experienced from 2011 to 2016 led me to believe that federalizing health insurance has encouraged cronyism and corruption. I can see where the insurance companies and politicians benefited but not customers like me. If the health care industrial complex wants me back they have to offer me affordable health insurance(<8.05% of AGI) with a lot less lying.

Trust Matters

I believe that the ACA attitude toward health care reform was best expressed by Professor Gruber’s “lack of transparency is a huge political advantage” comment. This attitude explains why we succeeded in creating a dysfunctional, unsustainable health care system that surprisingly poisoned the waters for a single payer system, too. The next health care reform needs to be less political and more honest.

Medicaid Plus

If society wants to subsidize high-risk pool, chronic care, and low-income customers than it is society’s responsibility. Trying to get the smallest insurance market with the most price sensitive insurance customers to pay a disproportionate share of the cost is just plain foolish. The government should make the rules in markets they are paying the majority of the cost. Let’s start calling the subsidized market what it really is, Medicaid Plus. Let the individual insurance market have the flexibility to go back to being the spearhead of health care cost control for healthy people. Let’s make health care great again for the customers.