Inside Health Reform Reports Joel Ario's Predictions on Health Reform After Elections

"Ario: Exchange Subsidies a Likely Budget Target, But Exchanges Will Survive Even if GOP Wins Election"
Inside Health Reform

October 19, 2012 - Inside Health Reform turned to Manatt's Joel Ario, a managing director with Manatt Health Solutions, for insight into how the U.S. presidential elections will affect health reform.

As reported by Inside Health Reform, Ario predicts that the health law's subsidies to help lower-income people afford insurance through exchanges will be a target for deficit reduction. While Medicare and Medicaid may be on the table, it will be easier to cut from a pool of money that constituents have yet to benefit from than to slash programs already in place, said Ario, who is a former U.S. Health and Human Services exchange official.

Ario also predicted that exchanges would move forward under either a Democratic or Republican White House, as he thinks they would be part of a GOP health law replacement plan, though they could be a voluntary component.