The health care fix that’s not really a fix

Editorial by Charlotte Observer, November 16, 2013.

It’s understandable if you’ve become confused by all the Affordable Care Act fixes out there.

There’s the fix to the glitchy Healthcare.gov website, which is supposed to be in working order by the end of this month but (surprise!) might not be until a little later.

There’s President Barack Obama’s fix to his broken promise regarding Americans being able to keep their insurance plans. That fix, which the president announced Thursday, would allow insurers to reinstate individual plans canceled because of Obamacare coverage mandates.

Finally, there’s the fix that passed the Republican-led U.S. House on Friday. That fix also would let insurance companies renew those individual health plans. But unlike Obama’s proposal, which would let Americans keep those policies temporarily, the House bill puts no expiration date on the existing individual plans and lets insurers sell new ones.

The Senate may take up similar legislation next week. If it reaches the president’s desk, he should veto it.

The “fix” is not a fix at all, but a backdoor way to undermine the ACA, which needs younger and largely healthy people who have cheaper plans – including those individual policies – to enroll in the marketplace. Take those people out of the mix, and premiums will likely rise for most everyone else.

That’s when the howling would really begin – and Obamacare would be truly threatened. And that’s not a health care fix at all.