After they leave, the damage will spread to doctors and hospitals, whose bad debt will skyrocket when patients miss copays and drop coverage while providers and hospitals still must continue care. If you’re wondering why insurers substantially increased premiums for this year, even far beyond the underlying health care inflation rate — now at around 4 percent — this shell game with risk is your answer. If any replacement plan doesn’t include these elements, private insurance will revert to the chaos of the pre-A.C.A. In business, managing risk is important; in insurance, it is everything. If we manage this risk badly through repeal and delay, the damage to insurers, individuals, hospitals and professionals will be profound.

Source: New York Times January 17, 2017 08:21 UTC