A opinion column argues that the Affordable Care Act's financial strain stems from what it calls flawed 'socialist' math, pointing to a lawsuit filed by 22 states in July against a new Trump administration rule allowing cheaper, high-deductible catastrophic health plans back onto the market starting in 2027. The states argue the rule would siphon healthier, younger enrollees out of standard plans, driving up premiums for everyone left behind.
The piece recounts the ACA's 2014-2016 'risk corridor' shortfall, in which HHS paid insurers only 12.6% of what was owed before the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in 2020 that the government still owed the money. It also notes a White House Council of Economic Advisers estimate, cited in the states' lawsuit, that 3 million Americans could enroll in catastrophic plans under the new rule.
The column frames Democrats' push to renew expired pandemic-era premium subsidies as evidence the ACA cannot sustain itself without ongoing taxpayer support, while casting the new rule as a way to let healthier people opt out of subsidizing others.
The full dispatch is available from the source below.