When many go to renew their health insurance on Obamacare exchanges, they will find that their plans no longer exist. According to the New York Times, there are 499 markets for Obamacare plans, 89 of those will lose their “Silver” option for 2016. Most of those losses are due to the failure of over half of the Obamacare co-ops. 

Want free Chick-fil-A for lunch? Come to AAF’s noon event on the gig economy today. The event features former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao as the keynote speaker. The panel will be a discussion between Kim Sater (Director, US Consumer Marketing, Mary Kay Inc.); Mike Malloy (President & CEO of Waveborn Sunglasses, and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Georgetown University); Christopher Koopman (Research Fellow, George Mason University’s Mercatus Center) and Will Rinehart (Director of Technology and Innovation Policy, AAF).

The Senate may have found a way to exert their power before President Obama signs the Paris Climate Deal. A key point of the future deal is that wealthier countries, like the U.S., will need to contribute billions to help poor countries find alternatives to carbon fuels. Of the plan, Senator Barrasso said “We want to make sure that any of these countries that think they're going to have a check to cash because of an agreement that the president may make in Paris – that they shouldn't cash the check just yet.”

Eakinomics: ’Tis the Season…

Of disappointment. Remember when ObamaCare was going to be like Travelocity — a pleasant e-shopping experience where you got exactly what you wanted the very first time. Not so much. Remember when it was going to “bend the cost curve” so that health care got cheaper, the entitlement spending threat miraculously disappeared, and employer health care costs did not rule out the chance of getting an actual cash raise? Not so much. Remember when ObamaCare was supposed to lower the cost of health insurance by $2,500 for every family. Not so much. Especially not so much. No, ’tis the season of not getting what you want, changing plans yearly, dreading the entire process, and paying more both up front and when you get care.  

But even more startling, remember when ObamaCare was going to be a steadily expanding source of private insurance? Not so much. Enrollment in individual insurance has seemingly stalled, a remarkable accomplishment. You have a stunningly unattractive product when it is illegal to not buy it and the taxpayer is shelling out to help people pay for it. The upshot of these multiple policy failures is that the bulk of the insurance expansion under ObamaCare is not private insurance; it is Medicaid. The is a disturbing because Medicaid has a track record of failure and remains a threat to states’ budgets. 

Welcome to the holiday season. May a future one contain a health care reform that does not land with the thud of a lump of coal.

From the Forum

The Modern Online Gig Economy, Consumer Benefit, and the Importance of Regulatory Humility by Will Rinehart, AAF Director of Technology and Innovation Policy

Worldwide Spending on Medicines Will Reach $1.4 Trillion in 2020 by Tara O’Neill, AAF Health Care Policy Analyst

Fact of the Day

The 340B drug pricing program seeks to reimburse hospitals for uncompensated outpatient care by requiring drug manufacturers to provide drugs at a reduced cost to hospitals that have high quantities of undercompensated inpatient care.