Manatt’s Joel Ario, a managing director with Manatt Health, was quoted by Inside Health Policy for an article on the crossroads that healthcare exchanges may face in 2018.
Among these crossroads, the publication noted, is the upcoming disappearance of the individual mandate. While congressional Republicans may have eliminated the least popular part of the Affordable Care Act, they may have also set themselves up for public backlash if lawmakers refuse to take action to mitigate rate increases.
Ario explained that the irony in the GOP’s move to eliminate the mandate, while maintaining the requirement that issuers cover everyone regardless of preexisting conditions, highlights the Democrats’ push for stronger subsidies. He added that the guaranteed issuer principle will likely stand, since last year’s battle over the ACA showed that the country values the security offered by the guaranteed issue.