New evidence that short-term plans offer good coverage for many.
House Democrats last week voted to reverse a Trump Administration rule that the left has branded as promoting “junk insurance.” So note that the vote arrives the same week as a fresh analysis about how short-term health insurance can be a better option than ObamaCare.
The Trump Administration last year allowed for short-term, limited-duration health insurance that can last up to a year. Plans can be renewed up to 36 months without new medical underwriting, which can protect against higher premiums if someone falls sick. The Obama Administration limited short-term insurance to three months to force everyone into the ObamaCare exchanges. The Trump crowd thought short-term plans could be viable for relatively healthy folks who earn too much for subsidies and are soaked by Affordable Care Act prices.
Democrats claim these are “garbage” plans designed to trick Americans. Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted this month that the Trump Administration “is fighting to replace many Americans’ health care with junk insurance policies that are allowed to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions.”
Short-term offerings are nascent and several states ban them, with restrictions in about two dozen others, which limits data. But Chris Pope at the Manhattan Institute offered a useful comparison in a paper last week. Mr. Pope examines Fulton County in Georgia, where ObamaCare premiums hover around the national average and multiple insurers compete on the exchange. Short-term insurance is available, consistent with the new federal rules.
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This piece originally appeared in The Wall Street Journal