Courtesy of Keith Hennessey. Memo from Chief Actuary of Medicare and Medicaid Rick Foster here. Hennessey notes that the 18 million who are "uninsured and paying the penalty tax" are "clearly worse off than they would be under current law" because they end up paying the lesser of 2.5% of their income or the average premium for health insurance. These are likely to be younger and healthier people. Why would someone who makes a high income not buy health insurance if the tax was equal to what she or he would pay in premiums?

Hennessey also notes that Medicaid is largely considered to be fiscally unsustainable now. How does adding 23 million to Medicaid help this?

Labels: economics, health care