Federal tax dollars subsidize health care plans in ways you may not realize
CBSN
Subsidies. Love 'em or hate them, they dominated the news during the Affordable Care Act's sign-up season, and their reduction is now hitting many enrollees in the pocketbook. Edited by Paula Cohen In:
Subsidies. Love 'em or hate them, they dominated the news during the Affordable Care Act's sign-up season, and their reduction is now hitting many enrollees in the pocketbook.
While lawmakers continue to disagree on a way forward, and the politics of affordability keeps the issue front and center, it would be understandable to think these are the only taxpayer-funded health insurance subsidies in the U.S. system.
But that would be wrong.
"The vast majority of people with health insurance get some kind of federal subsidy for it, from Medicaid to Medicare to the ACA to employer-sponsored insurance," said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.
These broad taxpayer supports are rarely discussed, though, as they apply to work-based coverage. So, let's take a look.
