Research Report Using the Basic Health Program to Make Coverage More Affordable to Low-Income Households: A Promising Approach for Many States
Stan Dorn, Matthew Buettgens, Caitlin Carroll
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We estimate national and state effects of implementing the Basic Health Program option in national health reform to provide near-poor adults with coverage like Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program.Implemented nationally, such a policy would reduce these adults' annual premium and out-of-pocket costs from $1,652 to $196; lower the number of uninsured by 600,000; provide federal dollars that exceed baseline Medicaid/CHIP costs by 23 percent; reduce exchange enrollment from 9.8 to 8.2 percent of non-elderly residents; save states $1.3 billion annually in Medicaid costs; and raise risk levels in individual markets. State policy choices could change these results.
Research Areas Health and health care
Tags Health insurance Health equity Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program  Private insurance
Policy Centers Health Policy Center