ACA Subsidies Could Expand, but Public Option Is Unlikely
With the new Congress largely in place, and the new presidential administration set to take power on Jan. 20, health care insiders are beginning to make sense of what legislation and rulemaking the Biden administration and Democrats intend to develop that could affect health insurers. Experts say that large, structural changes like a public option are unlikely, given Democrats’ narrow Senate majority, but smaller reforms including expanded subsidies in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges are up for discussion, along with pandemic-related coverage protections.
The Biden transition team included increased ACA subsidies and temporary COBRA subsidies for laid-off workers as part of the pandemic relief package that President-elect Joe Biden announced on Jan. 14, as AIS Health went to press. But that policy does face some hurdles.
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