Ford and his wife, Cortney, are concerned because the modern treatment is only symptom management, and the disease is gradually degenerative, which makes it much more likely that they will eventually require an individual health policy. For this, they’re inclined to enroll Ford in Medicaid, and the new bill threatens to drastically reduce Medicaid funding, leaving the states to allocate funds from elsewhere and, more likely, save money by reducing benefits across the board and by making policies more exclusive.
This is one of many types of households whom Molina defends when he says that “the tax credits are not going to be sufficient to cover the premiums. And that means that people are going to have to pay more out-of-pocket for the same coverage they’ve been receiving.”
The ACA subsidized healthcare based on citizens’ annual income such that, for those challenged to afford health insurance, the federal government granted a certain percentage of their premiums to help them purchase the policy in question. The AHCA, on the other hand, aims to do away with these subsidies based on income and attempts to help citizens, instead, by doling out tax credits based on age. Critics broadly agree that this is a grossly ineffective way to help those who struggle to afford healthcare.
