Was that not an amazingly entertaining debate? I am tempted to put up my hand-written notes as I watched.
But I have a question. During the debate, Senator Rubio said that he wanted to replace Obamacare with a refundable tax credit. (The link defines refundable tax credit; Rubio gives his plan here.) How is that different from Obamacare subsidies? You take away the simplicity of the Obamacare exchanges, but you might even wind up increasing the subsidy.
Me, I think getting rid of the clear comparability of the Obamacare bronze, silver, gold and platinum plans would be a bad thing, but this plan is politically brilliant. It hits the mandate, which hurts the system, but it provides a ready-made answer to the people who already have insurance. Given status quo bias, you could easily keep those people on the rolls. Then give them a refundable tax credit bigger than their current subsidy. Brilliant! You move the United States a bit away from the Dutch health system that we are trying to emulate, but you do not piss anyone off and you keep the spirit of the Affordable Care Act ... while getting to say that you killed “Obamacare.”
Fear the man from Florida in the general. Although I do not think that he will get there.
Unless my analysis is wrong. School me, folks!
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