My last post was in protest to a New York Times front-page article that highlighted the very real plight of ACA private plan buyers who were forgoing needed medical care because they'd bought high-deductible, mostly bronze-level plans. My beef was that the article omitted important context, e.g., that only 20% of ACA shoppers selected bronze and that the vast majority of low-income buyers who were eligible for Cost Sharing Reduction (CSR) bought silver plans that allowed them to access those important secondary subsidies.
I also suggested that the four individual narratives in the piece should not be taken at face value -- in particular, the plight of one woman who had selected a bronze plan with a $6,000 deductible but was plainly eligible for CSR that would have brought the deductible down to $500 at worst and as low as $25, depending on what plan she chose. This woman plainly made the wrong plan choice -- in itself a significant problem, but not one that the Times article addressed.
I want to focus here on a second brief narrative in the Times story, in which the woman in question was somewhat higher-income and so faced a tougher choice, with less obviously attractive options. Here's the tale:
I also suggested that the four individual narratives in the piece should not be taken at face value -- in particular, the plight of one woman who had selected a bronze plan with a $6,000 deductible but was plainly eligible for CSR that would have brought the deductible down to $500 at worst and as low as $25, depending on what plan she chose. This woman plainly made the wrong plan choice -- in itself a significant problem, but not one that the Times article addressed.
I want to focus here on a second brief narrative in the Times story, in which the woman in question was somewhat higher-income and so faced a tougher choice, with less obviously attractive options. Here's the tale:
