but spectacular take on grief
and language.
President Biden got some help
from former president Obama
today as the white house
announced a proposal aimed at
lowering health insurance costs
for millions of Americans.
>> The president announced a two
what has been called the family
glitch, a loophole in the
affordable care act that kept
millions from qualifying for
subsidized insurance plans.
President Biden and former
president Obama made the
announcement earlier today at
the white house.
President Biden: Here's the
problem -- under the current
rules, a working mom is told as
long as she can afford
employer-based coverage for
herself, she cannot qualify for
premium subsidies to afford
coverage for her family.
Cover her but not her family.
We are working to change that.
Once today's proposed rule is
finalized, starting next year,
working families in America will
get the help they need to afford
full family coverage.
>> For more on the impact this
could have and who it could
help, I'm joined by Margo, who
covers health care for "The new
York Times."
Let's make sure people
understand this family glitch
issue.
How is it making insurance more
expensive?
>> The affordable care act was
designed to make insurance more
affordable for all Americans and
had a bunch of different
programs.
One was saying if you work, your
employer should make it shirt --
insurance available to you at a
price you can afford.
The family glitch deals with
people who are caught in between
programs.
If you can imagine a family
where a single mom gets
insurance at work and it's
affordable for her, but if she
wants to buy a family plan to
cover her husband or kids, it
would be too expensive,
currently, they cannot buy a
different plan in the Obamacare
market place.
That has always been known as
the family glitch.
There are about 5 million people
in this situation.
Some of them just pay a lot of
money to all be in the family
plan under an employer, some of
them pay a lot of money to get a
separate plan, and some are
uninsured.
This is a new rule to try to
solve that problem.
>> And it has long big -- long
been recognized as a problem
that needs to be fixed.
Some are saying this needs to go
through congress.
>> I think it is a little bit
ambiguous.
There were a lot of sloppy
things that went through, so in
the Obama administration,
officials and lawyers did not
think that they could solve this
problem through regulation.
They thought congress needed to
pass another law that said these
people should be able to go to
the exchangers and get
marketplace coverage, but the
Biden administration has looked
at it again and think this is an
acceptable way to solve this
problem.
It is possible there will be
some legal debate, some lawsuit
challenging it, but it seems
like the legal interpretation of
the Biden administration is that
they can fix this problem.
With president Biden, we saw
president Obama standing at the
podium supporting this move, so
it seems he has come around as
well.
We should mention, there was a
big affordable care act
expansion last year, right?
Also expanded health care
subsidies and access to
insurance.
Those subsidies will run out at
the end of this year, though,
right?
Does this fix help to fill the
gap that will leave?
>> I think some of the people
are the same but many are not.
Lots of people have been
eligible since the affordable
care act became law subsidies to
help them buy insurance, and
what congress did last year was
give them a little boost.
They made insurance premiums a
little more affordable for
people close to the poverty line
.
Poor Americans who work would
not have to pay anything.
For the first time, people who
were not eligible for subsidies
before can get some financial
help, too.
That extra help, that wraparound
help is what is set to expire
unless congress removes it, but
there still will be some
financial support that has been
there as part of the affordable
care act.
>> Are there still big holes
left a patch?
>> There are big holes.
Democrats in congress were
trying to patch these other big
holes as part of their big build
back better legislation that
seems to be stalled, but I would
say there are two big groups of
people being left out and about
12 states led by Republicans for
the most part.
There are people not eligible
for medicaid coverage because
their states chose not to expand
medicaid.
That was optional under
Obamacare, and most states have
done it, but not all, and I
think this other group is these
people who technically can get
insurance through the Obamacare
market places, but they have
just found it to be
unaffordable.
Insurance can be really
expensive, so these wraparound
subsidies were to help them.
>> We have just marked 12 years
since the passage of this
massive health reform law.
Did it do what it said it would
do?
>> I think it did a lot of what
it said it would do.
There's no doubt it has expanded
insurance coverage across the
country to millions of Americans
who did not have the ability to
get insurance before.
It has also changed the nature.
If you have an employer plan,
you don't have to worry about an
annual cap.
I do think this is a large lot
that has had a large impact, and
in many ways, it has become so
built-in to the way we think
about our American health care
system, I often talk to
students, and they don't even
believe there was a time you
could not get insurance when you
had a pre-existing health
condition.
There are millions more who have
insurance but still struggle to
pay their medical bills when
they get sick.
Their health insurance may not
be as comprehensive as they
would like it to be.
>> Thanks so much for joining
us.
Margo singer cats of "The new