Navigating the ACA: Why Silver Plans Now Cost More Than Gold
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Navigating the ACA: Why Silver Plans Now Cost More Than Gold
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Tony LoSasso, a professor of health economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, discusses the unexpected phenomenon of silver plans costing more than gold plans in many Affordable Care Act marketplaces. He explains that this is a result of a tangled policy design, specifically the federal government ceasing direct cost-sharing subsidies in 2017. Insurers responded by inflating silver plan premiums to cover these costs, which in turn inflated premium tax credits for all enrollees, creating an expensive and distorted market. LoSasso proposes a fix: funding cost-sharing subsidies directly and restructuring premium tax credits to delink them from plan prices, thereby encouraging real competition among insurers and ensuring long-term market stability.