About 6.4 million Americans eligible to buy insurance through the new health exchanges will pay $100 or less a month in premiums because of tax subsidies, according to a Department of Health and Human Services report to be released Tuesday and obtained by USA TODAY.
The report by the HHS office for planning and evaluation said the lower premiums would primarily apply to insurance customers who buy what are called “silver” plans on the exchanges that open Oct. 1.
Stand by for the Republican messaging to counter this suggestion that Obamacare might produce benefits for millions of Americans. For one thing, these will be low-income people, unworthy of the consideration typically reserved for millionaires. Tax subsidies are supposed to go to billionaires, not working poor.
SPEAKING OF OBAMACARE: This is an extensive and brilliant piece in New York magazine by Jonathan Chait. It’s about the accumulating evidence that the Affordable Care Act is working and about the diehard vehemence of the Republican opposition that it will not and MUST not.