The Affordable Care Acts Regulatory Drawbacks
The recent government shutdown has brought the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to the center of American politics once again. While the law was able to successfully expand coverage to millions of Americans, the law’s continued reliance on subsidies shows its inability to lower premiums due to structural healthcare issues. The temporary subsidy program in particular, which was first expanded during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, was intended as short term relief and has now become essential for keeping premiums affordable for Americans. This overreliance on federal aid exposes a deeper structural weakness with the ACA, which is the law’s inability to sustain affordability without government intervention. As Congress debates whether to renew these subsidies, the question they must ask themselves is whether the ACA’s regulatory framework can ever function as a truly self-sustaining reform without significant subsidies.