Under the Trump administration’s first set of proposals to update the Affordable Care Act, consumers would be required to provide additional information to prove that they are eligible for special enrollment periods around major life events, such as marriage or divorce, and premium subsidies.
Annual enrollment would also be shortened by a month and would eliminate a year-round enrollment period for taxpayers at the lowest income levels. Taxpayers with $0 premium plans would be charged small amounts until they update their information under the new requirements.
We asked two professors and authors of ALM’s Tax Facts with opposing political viewpoints to share their opinions about the Trump administration’s ACA changes to promote consumer protections.
Below is a summary of the debate that ensued between the two professors.
Their Votes:
Their Reasons:
Byrnes: We must be focused on developing strategies to prevent bad actors from fraudulently enrolling in ACA health coverage via the marketplace without the knowledge of the individuals whose identities are being compromised. The level of waste that has been allowed to persist in the federal government is simply unsustainable. Trump's new regulatory scheme will go a long way toward preventing fraud and theft of ACA subsidies.Bloink: These new burdensome requirements are going to accomplish one thing: They're going to penalize the lowest-income taxpayers who need ACA assistance the most. When we impose complicated regulations that require consumers to disclose more and more information, we'll discourage them from actually completing the process and getting the health insurance they so badly need.
Byrnes: This proposal would eliminate the year-round special enrollment period for Americans with very low incomes — those who are the very most likely to be exploited. While some view these new requirements as overly burdensome, we have to view the new rules through a more practical lens: that of protecting this vulnerable group of Americans from identity theft and exploitation. These changes would warn taxpayers who are receiving $0 health insurance by charging them a small amount per month — letting them know that they’ve been enrolled in an ACA marketplace plan.
Bloink: We can't escape the fact that the health insurance marketplaces exist to ensure that lower-income taxpayers are able to access the health insurance they need and receive the government assistance they need. These burdensome regulations will absolutely get in the way of Americans getting the health coverage they need, meaning that Americans who are insured will be subject to higher rates — because we all know that when lower-income Americans go uninsured, their unpaid medical costs are simply passed on to other consumers in the form of higher health care costs and insurance premiums.
Byrnes: Requiring Americans to provide basic information about their circumstances can't be viewed as overly burdensome — instead, it's merely the smart way to implement this wide-reaching health program. This isn’t a burden; it’s a protective process that should have existed from the day the health insurance marketplace was formed under the ACA. We need strong policies in place to protect ordinary Americans from rogue insurance agents and other bad actors. This is one situation where we have to weigh the valuable benefits against the perceived burdens.
Bloink: The Biden administration accomplished much by increasing premium subsidies for the lowest-income taxpayers, allowing some hard-working Americans who have struggled under the weight of inflation to enroll in $0 health insurance plans. This new proposal would make it much more difficult for this extremely vulnerable group of taxpayers to receive essential health coverage — and that’s something that moves us in a backward direction.
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