Tucked into the fine print (the shittier things are always in fine print) of a sweeping ACA regulatory overhaul, the Trump administration is quietly pitching a new idea for people who can’t afford crushing out-of-pocket medical costs: borrow the money from your health insurer, The New York Times reports.
The proposal, floated in the administration’s 1,121-page final rule governing next year’s ACA marketplace, would allow insurers to offer loans to customers blindsided by catastrophic medical bills — loans that would have to be paid back, likely with interest.
However, officials frame it as a lifeline for people who opted for low-premium, high-deductible plans and then got hit with unexpected costs. But with more than a third of American households already carrying some form of medical debt, health policy experts are less than enthused about the idea of adding to that burden.
“The last thing you want to do is increase deductibles and load people up with more medical debt,” said Stanford economist Neale Mahoney. “It seems to be hugely out of touch with where people are.”