Obamacare Architect Blames This Republican for Insurers Bowing Out
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, one of the architects of the Affordable Care Act, joined the FOX Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo to discuss the law, which he does not view as a failure despite its problems.
“Go back to 2009 before the Affordable Care Act was passed,” he said. “Fifty million Americans uninsured – 20 million of them now have insurance because of the Affordable Care Act.”
He also argued that the law has helped bring down health care costs, including, “Negative growth on a per person basis in Medicaid and Medicare and lower commercial rates than we had during the Bush Administration – both on getting people enrolled and on getting costs under control…and it’s come in way under budget."
He also addressed why major insurers like Aetna (NYSE:AET) and UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) have bowed out.
“When you go into a new market every business expects to lose some money at the start…The business became a lot more uncertain because of Republicans, in particular, Marco Rubio, eliminating some of the risk corridors and the protections from the insurance companies when they went into the new market.”
On the most important change that needs to be made to the Affordable Care Act, Emanuel said: “We need all the states to agree to expand Medicaid to get all those people in…We need to have the risk corridors brought back for the insurance companies…We need to move away from the fee for service much faster and help the health care system deliver care more efficiently.”
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