Sen. Ted Cruz has a litmus test for his Republican Senate colleagues: Do they care more about cutting health insurance premiums than protecting people with preexisting conditions? About half of those consumers receive federal subsidies, which they use to buy policies sold on the new state insurance marketplaces (or “Obamacare exchanges,” such as Covered California). If the problem posed by the ACA is high premiums, neither Cruz’s proposal nor the other GOP plans are a solution. The former would presumably impose considerably lower costs on insurers and so would pay lower premiums. Regardless, if the problem posed by the ACA is high premiums, neither Cruz’s proposal nor the other GOP plans are a solution.

Source: Los Angeles Times July 06, 2017 19:07 UTC