Five Key Lessons from A Third-Party Health Care Reform Plan – available free to all paid subscribers

Five Key Lessons from A Third-Party Health Care Reform Plan – available to all paid subscribers

Annual membership for paid subscriber 50 percent off $30.

https://bernsteinbook1958.substack.com/4d9daaf9

Five lessons:

1. Partisan Stalemate Blocks Durable Reform Both parties legislate for their own agendas, leading to expansion followed by retrenchment. Expansions are often temporary, and retrenchments create instability. This cycle leaves households exposed.

2. Gaps in Coverage and Protection Persist Job changes, high out-of-pocket costs, and weak consumer protections continue to hurt millions. Reforms must fix these structural gaps.

3. Simple, Widely Beneficial Reforms Are Being Ignored Simple, widely beneficial reforms which reduce insurance loss during job transitions and improve FSAs and HSAs to better mitigate out-of-pocket costs are being ignored by both parties.

4. Risk-Sharing Can Unlock Broader Protections Hybrid approaches — such as private coverage up to a spending cap with Medicaid beyond — stabilize markets and enable stronger consumer protections.

5. We Need a Pragmatic Middle Ground Allowing employer subsidies into exchange plans, improving FSAs, curbing junk plans, and strengthening risk-sharing are commonsense steps with potential bipartisan appeal but are currently stalled.

Annual membership for paid subscriber 50 percent off $30.

https://bernsteinbook1958.substack.com/4d9daaf9

Link to third party health care reform paper