Amidst complaints that plans offered through the state insurance marketplaces are too expensive for people of modest means, even after subsidies, two states appear to have come up with a solution.
Those in the other 48 are likely still out of luck.
New York and Minnesota, two states that traditionally boast above-average social safety nets, have taken advantage of an obscure provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that allows them to provide low-cost health coverage to those whose incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid but who would nevertheless struggle to afford coverage through the individual marketplace exchange.
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According to Kaiser Health News, 125,000 Minnesotans and 350,000 New Yorkers are enrolled in such plans, for which they pay very low premiums (less than $20 a month) and are subject to no deductible and low co-pays.
Those who are benefiting from these "basic plans" have a dramatically better deal than those whose incomes are just slightly higher than theirs and are buying plans through the marketplace.
As Kaiser explains, somebody in New York who makes $24,000 a year will pay $131 a month for an exchange plan and face a $1,500 deductible, $30 co-pays, and an out-of-pocket maximum of $5,450.
Meanwhile, the person who makes $23,450 will pay $20 a month in premiums, $15 co-pays, and face a $2,000 out-of-pocket limit.
There's little indication, however, that such plans will become common throughout the country, particularly in states that historically do not offer Medicaid to those with incomes above 100 percent of the federal poverty level.
In states that do fund their Medicaid programs more generously, such a program can actually reduce the burden on state budgets because the federal government pays for 95 percent of their cost, whereas the state typically covers the lion's share of Medicaid costs for those making between 138 percent and 200 percent of the FPL.
Furthermore, if there is too great an exodus from the marketplace to such plans, it might make participation in Obamacare less attractive to insurers.
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