Kaiser Health News reports on possible effects of overturning ACA

Addressing a claim by the presidential challenger that the incumbent will "slash Medicare benefits," Kaiser Health News published a piece that consulted various health policy experts and reported on their opinions. The current White House administration has supported a challenge to overturn the Affordable Care Act (ACA); the Supreme Court is schedule to hear oral arguments in November. The presidential challenger's staff has taken that as evidence that the current president will slash Medicare benefits, a potentially helpful charge in this political climate. Independent of the political effectiveness of charge, Kaiser Health News' reporting on what might happen if the ACA is indeed overturned is interesting.

For example, the ACA mandated that certain preventive services such as an annual wellness visit would not cost Medicare patients anything. In theory, those benefits could be at risk. There is also a question of whether repealing ACA will cause Medicare to spend more, and whether that would ultimately lead to the slashing of benefits (versus, say, an increase of funding from Congress).

Even after so many years, there seems to still be some doubt regarding the legal viability of the ACA. If the Supreme Court finds the ACA unconstitutional, undoubtedly, the health insurance industry will experience much commotion, at a time that is less than ideal for such confusion.