Access Health CT, the state’s health care exchange, must figure out its future under soon-to-be President Donald Trump. But that’s far from simple. Trump has been clear he intends to repeal and replace Obamacare – the Affordable Care Act – but it's less clear what he intends to replace it with.
He has said he’d like to keep the popular bits, like coverage for pre-existing conditions, but at the same time, he’s not going to require everyone to get insurance.
Rosemarie Day, a health care consultant, told WNPR’s Where We Live that might be tricky.
“You really have to look at the math, because to cover pre-existing conditions, means you’ve got to cover a lot of folks who are potentially more sick than the average folks in the population,” she said. That, in turn, means you need the younger, healthier folks to buy insurance to balance out the risk.
Steven Polizonis, a doctor of optometry in New Britain, saw an influx of patients with fairly serious problems when the state exchange got up and running.
Now he’s not sure what will happen to them.
“Where are these people going to go to get treatment because they’re obviously not going to be able to afford expensive medications? At least from my perspective in our practice – we’re concerned,” Polizonis said.
The fixes that Trump has floated so far, like making health care premiums tax deductible, seem targeted at the wealthy, rather than those who’ve benefited most from the ACA.
Jim Wadleigh, CEO of Access Health CT, said customers are still signing up for plans, but he can’t predict what will happen in the longer term.
"We’re really not sure what to expect for next year," he said. "What we can say right now is we have two carriers -- Anthem and ConnectiCare -- that are committed to the state of Connecticut. We feel that they are going to stay committed, but ultimately, Congress will have that last word."
The uncertainty has led some to ask whether Connecticut’s exchange could survive as a standalone entity even if the federal law goes away. But about 80 percent of its 100,000 customers receive a federal subsidy. That might mean a large financial liability for the state.
