The Boston Globe has a telling article today about concerns on the left that the Democratic health bills will not succeed in making insurance premiums sufficiently affordable.
According to the article, for middle-income families under the Senate bill, “premiums being contemplated in Washington are significantly higher than the ones offered in the pioneering Massachusetts health insurance program.” To make up for this, “the federal bills would be more generous than the Massachusetts law” by offering subsidies to people earning up to four times the poverty level, rather than three times the poverty level as in Massachusetts. So instead of giving people low-cost options, the idea is to direct people to higher-cost options, and then offer additional subsidies to make up for the higher costs. With this mindset, it is no wonder that the long-term cost of the bill will be in the trillions. In addition, it should come as no surprise to anyone when Congress tries to increase the level of subsidies in the future.