Description: This article provides a detailed description of the unbalanced subsidy provisions in the Affordable Care Act with easy to follow numerical illustrations. An understanding of the illustrative calculations is necessary to understand the subsidy implications. The article highlights some surprising and likely unintended results that will be interest to issuers, employers, consumers, regulators and policymakers. Actuaries can add expertise to their clients and to the public discussion with a proper understanding of the subsidy calculations and the resulting implications.

Description: The article discusses the sustainability of the ACA individual market from a public entitlement standpoint. A key point of measuring sustainability is the reliance on market forces rather than federal budget constraints. The article explains why an actuarial viewpoint of sustainability is necessary to a greater extent than other public assistance and social insurance programs. The article challenges actuaries to be a bold, objective voice in a space that is full of opinionated but often uninformed viewpoints.

Description: Part II of a two-part series discussing individual market evolution from before the ACA through President Trump's first term.

Description: Part I of a two-part series concerning the evolution of the individual market. It begins with background, discusses present markets and 2018 regulations.

Description: This article provides an in-depth discussion of how subsidies are an integral part of affordability for individual health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, and, ultimately, impact the viability of the market.