Must-Read: Drew Altman: The ACA Marketplace Problems in Context (and Why They Don’t Mean Obamacare Is ‘Failing’)

Must-Read: Drew Altman: The ACA Marketplace Problems in Context (and Why They Don’t Mean Obamacare Is ‘Failing’):

There absolutely are problems in the marketplaces…

…Premiums will rise much more rapidly next year than they did this year…

…[19% of] marketplace enrollees may have a choice of only one plan next year…. The marketplaces are an important part of Obamacare. However, more uninsured people have been covered by Medicaid expansions than in the marketplaces, even though 19 states have not expanded Medicaid…. The law’s insurance reforms, including protections for people with pre-existing conditions, apply to people buying their own insurance outside the marketplaces as well…. A broad range of ACA reforms in Medicare payments to doctors and hospitals are moving ahead…. Many of these elements of the ACA are working imperfectly and can be strengthened, just like the marketplaces. But recent talk of “Obamacare failing” seems to conflate the marketplaces with the ACA overall….

The issues in the ACA marketplace are real problems that need to be addressed through greater enrollment and policy changes… [should] be treated much more like mundane implementation issues to be addressed by Congress than glaring headlines about failure.