Budgetary Savings from Delaying the PPACA
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was enacted in March 2010, but most of its key budgetary provisions do not become effective until January 2014, when the so-called “exchanges” are to become operational in the fifty states and begin offering insurance policies with income-tested premium subsidies and substantially different insurance regulations.
There is growing concern that the substantial infrastructure necessary for successful implementation of the PPACA’s primary provisions will not be ready by 2014. Moreover, there are serious legal challenges to the law still pending. Finally, significant political disagreements exist over the merits of many PPACA provisions; these are likely to be debated extensively in the 2012 election season.
Consequently, there is growing interest in delaying further implementation of the law until the operational, legal, and political concerns can be settled. In this short note, we explore the budgetary implications of delaying the implementation of the PPACA for 2, 3, and 4 years.
