Alternatives to the ACA's Affordability Firewall,

Author

Cordova; Amado ; Nowak; Sarah A. ; Saltzman; Evan

Year

2015

Publisher

RAND Corporation

Language

English

Pages

Link

Last Update

28-Jul-2026

Keywords

Health Sciences ; Business ; Economics

Description

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was designed to increase health insurance coverage while limiting the disruption to individuals with existing sources of insurance coverage, particularly those with employer-sponsored insurance (ESI). Medicaid expansion and the establishment of Marketplaces where individuals can receive subsidies for purchasing insurance were designed to reduce the number of uninsured. To limit disruption to those with coverage, the ACA implements the employer mandate, which requires firms with more than 50 employees to offer health insurance or face penalties, and the individual “affordability firewall,” which limits subsidies to individuals lacking access to alternative sources of coverage that are...