Now that the Supreme Court has decided that providing subsidies to individuals purchasing insurance on federal exchanges (in King v. Burwell) has legal standing, the United States can focus on improving implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), rather than trying to restore a major part of the program. As this issue illustrates, there are many implementation issues that need attention. One of them, addressed by Richard Scheffler, Eric Kessell, and Margareta Brandt in their article “Covered California: The Impact of Provider and Health Plan Market Power on Premiums,” is the extent to which premiums increase among plans on the state marketplaces. The affordability of these rates is crucially important for several reasons: (1) individuals are asked to pay a portion of the premium (depending on family size and income), and when the rates go up, the question of affordability for American families looms large; (2) the federal government...
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