Republicans recognize this reality, and they have adopted a strategy to repeal portions of the ACA in the short-run, and replace the ACA in the long-run. No industry stakeholder can say with a straight-face that the individual health insurance markets are functional. And it is well-established that the unbalanced markets are resulting in financial losses for insurance companies and premium increases for consumers. First, it is likely that Congress will fund the “cost-sharing” reduction subsidies for 2017, 2018, and likely 2019. It is important to understand that the conflict over funding the cost-sharing subsidies is not based on the same argument lodged against the ACA “risk stabilization” programs.

Source: Forbes January 15, 2017 18:31 UTC