Updated Estimates for the Insurance Coverage
Provisions of the Affordable Care Act
MARCH 2012
In preparing the March 2012 baseline budget projections, the Congressional
Budget Office (CBO) and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT)
have updated estimates of the budgetary effects of the health insurance coverage
provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
1
That legislation comprises the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) and the health
care provisions of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010
(P.L. 111-152).
The insurance coverage provisions of the ACA establish a mandate for most legal
residents of the United States to obtain health insurance; create insurance
“exchanges” through which certain individuals and families may receive federal
subsidies to substantially reduce the cost of purchasing health insurance;
significantly expand eligibility for Medicaid; impose an excise tax on certain
health insurance plans with relatively high premiums; establish penalties on
certain employers who do not provide minimum health benefits to their
employees; and make other changes to prior law.
2
CBO and JCT now estimate that the insurance coverage provisions of the ACA
will have a net cost of just under $1.1 trillion over the 2012–2021 period—about
$50 billion less than the agencies’ March 2011 estimate for that 10-year period
(see Table 1, following the text).
3
The net costs reflect:
■ Gross additional costs of $1.5 trillion for Medicaid, the Children’s Health
1
See Congressional Budget Office, Updated Budget Projections: Fiscal Years 2012 to 2022
(March 2012).
2
For more information on the insurance coverage provisions of the ACA, see Congressional
Budget Office, cost estimate for H.R. 4872, the Reconciliation Act of 2010 (March 20, 2010).
3
The budgetary effects of the ACA discussed in this report are its effects on federal revenues and
mandatory spending; they do not include federal administrative costs, which will be subject to
future appropriation action. CBO has previously estimated that the Internal Revenue Service will
need to spend between $5 billion and $10 billion over 10 years to implement the law, and that the
Department of Health and Human Services and other federal agencies will have to spend at least
$5 billion to $10 billion over that period. In addition, the ACA included explicit authorizations for
spending by a variety of grant and other programs; that funding is also subject to future
appropriation action.
2 UPDATED ESTIMATES FOR THE COVERAGE PROVISIONS OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT MARCH 2012
Insurance Program (CHIP), tax credits and other subsidies for the purchase of
health insurance through the newly established exchanges and related costs,
and tax credits for small employers,
■ Offset in part by about $0.4 trillion in receipts from penalty payments, the
new excise tax on high-premium insurance plans, and other budgetary effects
(mostly increases in tax revenues).
Those amounts do not encompass all of the budgetary impacts of the ACA
because that legislation has many other provisions, including some that will cause
significant reductions in Medicare spending and others that will generate added
tax revenues, relative to what would have occurred under prior law. CBO and JCT
have previously estimated that the ACA will, on net, reduce budget deficits over
the 2012–2021 period; that estimate of the overall budgetary impact of the ACA
has not been updated.
4
The current estimate of the gross costs of the coverage provisions ($1,496 billion
through 2021) is about $50 billion higher than last year’s projection; however, the
other budgetary effects of those provisions, which partially offset those gross
costs, also have increased in CBO and JCT’s estimates (to $413 billion), leading
to the small decrease in the net 10-year tally. Over the 10-year period from 2012
through 2021, enactment of the coverage provisions of the ACA was projected
last March to increase federal deficits by $1,131 billion, whereas the March 2012
estimate indicates that those provisions will increase deficits by $1,083 billion.
The net cost was boosted by an additional $168 billion in estimated costs for
Medicaid and CHIP and $8 billion less in estimated revenues from the excise tax
on high-premium health insurance plans. But those increases were more than
offset by a reduction of $97 billion in the projected costs for the tax credits and
other subsidies for health insurance provided through the exchanges and related
spending, a reduction of $20 billion in the projected costs for tax credits for small
employers, and a reduction of $107 billion in deficits from the projected revenue
effects of changes in taxable compensation and penalty payments and from other
small changes in estimated spending.
This report also presents estimates through fiscal year 2022, because the baseline
projection period now extends through that additional year. The ACA’s
provisions related to insurance coverage are now projected to have a net cost of
$1,252 billion over the 2012–2022 period (see Table 2, following the text); that
amount represents a gross cost to the federal government of $1,762 billion, offset
in part by $510 billion in receipts and other budgetary effects (primarily revenues
from penalties and other sources). The addition of 2022 to the projection period
has the effect of increasing the costs of the coverage provisions of the ACA
4
See the statement of Douglas W. Elmendorf, Director, Congressional Budget Office, before the
Subcommittee on Health, House Committee on Energy and Commerce, CBO’s Analysis of the
Major Health Care Legislation Enacted in March 2010 (March 30, 2011). For the provisions of
the ACA unrelated to insurance coverage, most of which involve ongoing programs or revenue
streams, separating the portion of the updated projections for those programs or revenue streams
that is attributable to the ACA from the portion that would have existed under prior law is very
difficult.
3 UPDATED ESTIMATES FOR THE COVERAGE PROVISIONS OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT MARCH 2012
relative to those projected in March 2011 for the 2012–2021 period because that
change adds a year in which the expansion of eligibility for Medicaid and
subsidies for health insurance purchased through the exchanges will be in effect.
CBO and JCT have not estimated the budgetary effects in 2022 of the other
provisions of the ACA; over the 2012–2021 period, those other provisions were
previously estimated to reduce budget deficits.
CBO and JCT’s projections of health insurance coverage have also changed since
last March. Fewer people are now expected to obtain health insurance coverage
from their employer or in insurance exchanges; more are now expected to obtain
coverage from Medicaid or CHIP or from nongroup or other sources. More are
expected to be uninsured. The extent of the changes varies from year to year, but
in 2016, for example, the ACA is now estimated to reduce the number of people
receiving health insurance coverage through an employer by an additional 4
million enrollees relative to the March 2011 projections. In that year, CBO and
JCT now estimate that there will be 2 million fewer enrollees in insurance
exchanges. In the other direction, CBO and JCT now estimate that, in 2016, the
ACA will increase enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP slightly more than
previously estimated (but considerably more in 2014 and 2015), and it will reduce
the number of people with nongroup or other coverage by 3 million less and the
number of uninsured people by 2 million less than previously estimated.
Compared with prior law, the ACA is now estimated by CBO and JCT to reduce
the number of nonelderly people without health insurance coverage by 30 million
to 33 million in 2016 and subsequent years, leaving 26 million to 27 million
nonelderly residents uninsured in those years (see Table 3, at the end of this
report). The share of legal nonelderly residents with insurance is projected to rise
from 82 percent in 2012 to 93 percent by 2022. According to the current
estimates, from 2016 on, between 20 million and 23 million people will receive
coverage through the new insurance exchanges, and 16 million to 17 million
people will be enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP. Also, 3 million to 5 million fewer
people will have coverage through an employer compared with the number under
prior law.
5
Reasons for Changes in Estimates Since March 2011
The major sources for the differences between the March 2011 and March 2012
projections are the following:
5
Some observers have expressed surprise that CBO and JCT’s previous estimates did not show a
much larger reduction in the number of people receiving employment-based health insurance.
CBO and JCT’s estimates take account of the expanded eligibility for Medicaid and the subsidies
to be provided through the insurance exchanges, but they also recognize that the legislation leaves
in place substantial financial incentives for firms to offer health insurance coverage and also
creates new financial incentives for firms to offer such coverage and for many people to obtain it
through their employers. Shortly, CBO will release an extensive analysis conducted with JCT of
the incentives for firms to offer or not offer health insurance under the ACA, as well as a range of
estimates of sources of coverage and federal budgetary outcomes that would result from the ACA
under alternative assumptions about employers’ behavior.
4 UPDATED ESTIMATES FOR THE COVERAGE PROVISIONS OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT MARCH 2012
■ New Legislation. Several laws were enacted during the past year that changed
the estimated budgetary effects of the insurance coverage provisions of the
ACA.
■ Changes in the Economic Outlook. The March 2012 baseline incorporates
CBO’s macroeconomic forecast published in January 2012, which reflects a
slower recovery when compared with the forecast published in January 2011
(which was used in producing the March 2011 baseline).
6
■ Technical Changes. The March 2012 baseline incorporates updated
projections of the growth in private health insurance premiums, reflecting
slower growth than the previous projections. In addition, CBO and JCT made
a number of other technical changes in their estimating procedures.
New Legislation
Legislation enacted since March 2011 reduced the costs of the ACA’s coverage
provisions by about $38 billion, according to CBO and JCT’s estimates.
Lawmakers enacted three laws that modified the ACA’s coverage provisions:
■ The Three Percent Withholding Repeal and Job Creation Act (P.L. 112-56)
adds nontaxable Social Security benefits to the definition of modified adjusted
gross income for the purposes of determining eligibility for certain applicants
for Medicaid and for subsidies for health insurance purchased through the
exchanges. That change reduced the number of individuals who will qualify
for Medicaid and increased the number who will qualify for subsidies through
the exchanges. CBO and JCT estimated that the legislation will reduce the
costs of the ACA’s insurance coverage provisions by $13 billion over the
2012–2021 period. That estimate includes a reduction of $33 billion in
spending for Medicaid and an increase of $15 billion in costs for exchange
subsidies over the 2012–2021 period, along with other effects that will
increase deficits by an estimated $5 billion. (The budgetary effects of this
legislation were incorporated in CBO’s January 2012 baseline.)
7
■ The Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection and Repayment of Exchange
Subsidy Overpayments Act of 2011 (P.L. 112-9) includes a provision that was
estimated to reduce the costs of the ACA’s insurance coverage provisions by
about $25 billion over the 2012–2021 period, mostly through reductions in the
net costs of providing subsidies for purchasing health insurance through the
exchanges. (The budgetary effects of this legislation were incorporated in
CBO’s August 2011 baseline.)
8
■ The Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of
2011 (P.L. 112-10) repealed the Free Choice Voucher program, which
6
See Congressional Budget Office, The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2012 to
2022 (January 2012).
7
Ibid, p. 100.
8
See Congressional Budget Office, The Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update (August
2011), p. 64.
5 UPDATED ESTIMATES FOR THE COVERAGE PROVISIONS OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT MARCH 2012
provided a mechanism through which certain employees could use their
employer’s health insurance contribution to purchase coverage through the
exchanges. CBO and JCT estimated that repealing this provision will increase
revenues by $0.4 billion over the 2012–2021 period. (The budgetary effects of
this legislation were also incorporated in CBO’s August 2011 baseline.)
9
Changes in the Economic Outlook
In its January 2012 economic forecast, CBO revised its projections of certain
economic factors that will affect the number of people eligible for subsidized
health insurance coverage under the ACA through Medicaid, CHIP, or the health
insurance exchanges. In that forecast, the unemployment rate is higher throughout
the projection period than it was in last year’s forecast. CBO also now estimates
that wages and salaries will be lower than it previously anticipated.
Those changes yield an increase in the projected number of people eligible for
Medicaid and CHIP as a result of the ACA. They also yield a small reduction in
the number projected to be eligible for subsidies for purchasing insurance through
the exchanges. That reduction is the net effect of two changes resulting from the
forecast of lower incomes: More people are now projected to be eligible for
Medicaid or CHIP rather than for exchange subsidies, and at the same time, some
people whose incomes were expected to be too high for them to be eligible for
exchange subsidies are now projected to be eligible for them. The first effect on
estimated participation in the exchanges is greater than the second.
10
(Those shifts
in eligibility because of revised economic projections more than offset the shifts
in eligibility in the other direction caused by the change in the definition of
income used to determine eligibility enacted in P.L. 112-56.)
Technical Changes
Growth in private health care spending has been slower in the past several years
than it had been earlier. According to recent data on national health expenditures,
private health insurance premiums per enrollee in the United States grew by
8.4 percent per year, on average, between 2000 and 2005 but by 5.3 percent per
year, on average, between 2005 and 2010—and by only 3.7 percent in 2010.
11
Similar trends are observed in the growth of private health insurance premiums in
survey data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey: Premiums per enrolled
employee grew by between 8.5 percent and 9.6 percent annually between 2000
and 2005 but by between 4.4 percent and 5.3 percent annually between 2005 and
2010.
12
Consequently, CBO has reduced its projection of the growth in such
9
Ibid, p. 65.
10
Another factor that reduced the projected number of people whose income will make them
eligible for exchange subsidies is an adjustment to the projected distribution of income that
increased the number of people with very low income and also increased the number of people
with income above the range of eligibility for exchange subsidies.
11
See Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, National Health Expenditure Data: Historical,
Table 16, “Per Enrollee Expenditures and Average Annual Percent Change in Medicare Spending
and in Private Health Insurance Premiums, Calendar Years 1969–2010,” http://www.cms.gov/
NationalHealthExpendData/downloads/tables.pdf.
12
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Center for Cost and Financing Studies, 2000,
2005, and 2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, Insurance Component Tables I.C.1 and
6 UPDATED ESTIMATES FOR THE COVERAGE PROVISIONS OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT MARCH 2012
premiums, particularly in the early years of the coming decade. CBO now projects
that private health insurance premiums per enrollee will increase by 5.7 percent
per year, on average, between 2012 and 2022. By 2021, premiums are now
estimated to be about 8 percent lower than CBO estimated in March 2011. That
change reduces the estimated costs of the coverage provisions of the ACA.
CBO and JCT also made a number of technical changes in their estimating
procedures. Those changes incorporate new information from survey data and
other sources; improvements in the methods used to estimate changes in insurance
coverage, including refinements in how households decide which types of health
insurance policies to take up; and additional information about how the
Administration is likely to implement certain aspects of the coverage provisions
of the ACA, derived from proposed regulations and other administrative guidance
and announcements that have been issued over the past year.
13
Changes in the Major Components of the Insurance
Coverage Estimates
Because many of the changes discussed above were incorporated in the current
estimates simultaneously, precisely quantifying the effects of each change is not
possible. The combined effects of those changes over the 2012–2021 period are
these:
■ An increase of $168 billion in projected outlays for Medicaid and CHIP;
■ A decrease of $97 billion in projected costs for exchange subsidies and related
spending;
■ A decrease of $20 billion in the cost of tax credits for small employers; and
■ An additional $99 billion in net deficit reductions from penalty payments, the
excise tax on high-premium insurance plans, and other effects on tax revenues
and outlays—with most of those effects reflecting changes in revenues.
Medicaid and CHIP Outlays
According to CBO and JCT’s projections for the 2012–2021 period, spending for
Medicaid resulting from the coverage provisions of the ACA will be $160 billion
more than estimated last year, and such spending for CHIP will be $8 billion
more. Those upward revisions are attributable in part to higher projected
enrollment in those programs, especially for 2014 and 2015. The upward
I.D.1, http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/quick_tables_search.jsp?component=2&
subcomponent=1.
13
On March 12, 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a final rule related to
the implementation of insurance exchanges (see http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2012-
06125_PI.pdf). CBO’s March 2012 estimates of the effects of the insurance coverage provisions
of the ACA were finalized prior to the issuance of that rule and therefore do not incorporate any
new information that the rule may contain.
7 UPDATED ESTIMATES FOR THE COVERAGE PROVISIONS OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT MARCH 2012
revisions also reflect an increase in the projected federal share of costs for people
enrolled in the programs under the ACA.
14
The higher unemployment and lower wages and salaries in CBO’s latest
economic forecast, as compared with those in CBO’s forecast last year, will
increase the number of people who will qualify for Medicaid and CHIP as a result
of the ACA. The increase in the projected number of enrollees in Medicaid
because of those economic revisions accounts for almost all of the estimated
increase in the additional participation in the program stemming from the ACA.
In addition, the changes to the economic outlook mean that more children are now
estimated to be eligible for and to enroll in CHIP compared with the March 2011
estimates; those changes add about 1 million CHIP enrollees in 2014 and 2015
and account for about half of the total increase in projected enrollment in the
program relative to previous projections.
Other changes in the estimates for Medicaid and CHIP stem from a proposed rule
issued by the Administration that clarified how certain provisions may be
implemented:
15
■ The proposed rule outlines the Administration’s intent to provide states with a
choice of three methods to shift their existing systems for determining
eligibility for Medicaid to new systems under the ACA. The proposed rule
appears to offer states a greater opportunity to define new thresholds so as to
increase the number of enrollees who will qualify for higher matching
payments from the federal government.
16
■ The proposed rule also specifies that, beginning in 2014, children in
households with income under 138 percent of the federal poverty level will
continue to be covered by CHIP in states where CHIP eligibility extends
below that income threshold. CBO had previously assumed that those children
would, in 2014, be switched to Medicaid, for which the federal government
would be paying a lower share of their costs. This change accounts for about
14
CBO estimates that increases in state spending for Medicaid and CHIP related to the coverage
provisions of the ACA for the 2012–2021 period will be about $60 billion—essentially unchanged
from the March 2011 estimates of state spending for the same period. The effect on state spending
is expected to be about the same in the current estimates, despite the higher enrollment and larger
federal costs, because more enrollees are expected to qualify for a higher federal share of their
costs than estimated in March 2011. For the 2012–2022 period, state spending for Medicaid and
CHIP is expected to increase by $73 billion as a result of the coverage provisions of the ACA.
15
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, “Medicaid Program; Eligibility Changes Under
the Affordable Care Act of 2010,” Federal Register, vol. 76, no. 159 (August 17, 2011),
pp. 51148–51199, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-08-17/pdf/2011-20756.pdf.
16
Costs for Medicaid and CHIP are shared by the federal government and the states. For most
people qualifying for Medicaid under pre-ACA law, the federal government would pay about
57 percent of their costs, on average, with the rate varying between 50 percent and 75 percent
among states. For people who were not eligible for Medicaid before but will be eligible under the
ACA, the federal government will pay all of their costs through 2017 and between 90 percent and
95 percent of their costs thereafter. For people qualifying for CHIP, the federal government will
pay, on average, about 93 percent of their costs between 2016 and 2019 and about 70 percent of
their costs for other years (again, with variation among states).
8 UPDATED ESTIMATES FOR THE COVERAGE PROVISIONS OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT MARCH 2012
half of the increase in projected enrollment in CHIP compared with projected
enrollment in the March 2011 baseline.
Exchange Subsidies and Related Spending
In CBO and JCT’s updated estimates, subsidies to be provided through the new
insurance exchanges over the 2012–2021 period are lower than in the previous
estimates by $97 billion—reflecting $87 billion less in projected tax credits for
health insurance premiums and $10 billion less in projected cost-sharing subsidies
and related spending. The major change affecting the cost of exchange subsidies
is the reduction in projected premiums described above. That effect is slightly
offset by an increase in the estimated cost of providing the essential health
benefits (EHB) required by the ACA.
In particular, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a
bulletin in December 2011 that provided new information on its approach to
establishing the EHB package.
17
Despite that bulletin, the specific approach that
HHS will take in defining and implementing the package is still uncertain, and the
decisions that states will make in response to federal regulations are difficult to
predict. Nevertheless, because of the bulletin, CBO and JCT now expect that the
scope of benefits that will qualify as allowable health insurance expenses for the
purpose of exchange subsidies will be slightly broader than previously estimated.
Other changes also had an effect on projected exchange subsidies: Between
1 million and 2 million fewer people per year are expected to receive exchange
subsidies, as compared with the March 2011 estimates. That change is, in part, a
reflection of the revised economic forecast, which (as described above) caused
CBO to project an increase in the number of people with income making them
eligible for Medicaid and CHIP and a decrease in the number with income
making them eligible for exchange subsidies.
Tax Credits for Small Employers
In the current estimates, CBO and JCT reduced the projected cost of small
business tax credits to reflect preliminary tax data showing that small businesses
have been slower to take advantage of the credits than originally estimated.
Other Revenues
In the updated estimates, the amount of deficit reduction from penalty payments
and other effects on tax revenues under the ACA is larger than the amount in the
previous estimates. Primarily, that change reflects a larger estimated reduction in
the number of people receiving health insurance coverage through their employer.
In particular, technical improvements in CBO’s model of health insurance
coverage and new information from the Administration have, on balance,
increased the number of people projected not to receive employment-based
coverage because of the ACA. For example, the new estimates incorporate an
17
Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Consumer Information and Insurance
Oversight, Essential Health Benefits Bulletin (December 16, 2011), http://cciio.cms.gov/resources/
files/Files2/12162011/essential_health_benefits_bulletin.pdf.
9 UPDATED ESTIMATES FOR THE COVERAGE PROVISIONS OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT MARCH 2012
announcement by the Administration that implementation of a provision requiring
large employers to automatically enroll their employees in health insurance
beginning in 2014 will be delayed; the estimates now reflect an assumption that
the requirement will begin to take effect in 2015.
18
Revising down the number of workers projected to receive insurance coverage
through an employer relative to the previous estimates, by between 3 million and
4 million in most years, leads to an increase in estimated revenues because a
larger share of total compensation will take the form of taxable wages and salaries
and a smaller share will be in the form of nontaxable health benefits. In addition,
that revision increases the estimated number of employers who will be required to
pay penalties. Finally, penalties collected from individuals who do not have health
insurance are projected to increase because the number of individuals who will
remain uninsured is now estimated to be higher than was estimated in March
2011.
18
Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Consumer Information and Insurance
Oversight, “Frequently Asked Questions from Employers Regarding Automatic Enrollment,
Employer Shared Responsibility, and Waiting Periods” (February 9, 2012), p. 3,
http://cciio.cms.gov/resources/files/Files2/02102012/employer_faq_bulletin_2_9_12_final.pdf.
Holly Harvey, Jean Hearne, and Sarah Anders of CBO’s Budget Analysis Division prepared
this report under the supervision of Peter Fontaine. The estimates described here were the work
of many analysts at CBO and on the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation; the CBO
analysts who played especially important roles were Jessica Banthin, Stuart Hagen, Paul
Jacobs, Michael Levine, Alexandra Minicozzi, Julia Mitchell, Kirstin Nelson, Romain Parsad,
Allison Percy, Robert Stewart, and Christopher Zogby. In keeping with CBO’s mandate to
provide objective, impartial analysis, this report makes no recommendations. It and other CBO
publications are available on the agency’s Web site (www.cbo.gov).
Douglas W. Elmendorf
Director
TABLE 2.
March 2012 Estimate of the Budgetary Effects of the Insurance Coverage Provisions Contained in the Affordable Care Act
11-Year Total,
EFFECTS ON THE FEDERAL DEFICIT
a,b
2012 2013 2014
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2012-2022
(Billions of dollars, by fiscal year)
Medicaid and CHIP Outlays
c
-1 1 48 81 98 103 107 113 118 127 136 931
Exchange Subsidies and Related Spending
d,e
2 4 16 46 74 92 102 109 114 121 127 808
Small Employer Tax Credits
f
1 2 3 4 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 23
Gross Cost of Coverage Provisions 3 6 66 130 175 197 210 224 234 250 265 1,762
Penalty Payments by Uninsured Individuals 0 0 0 -3 -6 -7 -7 -7 -8 -8 -9 -54
Penalty Payments by Employers
f
0 0 -4 -9 -10 -12 -13 -15 -16 -16 -17 -113
Excise Tax on High-Premium Insurance Plans
f
0 0 0 0 0 0 -11 -18 -22 -27 -32 -111
Other Effects on Tax Revenues and Outlays
g
0 -1 -4 -8 -16 -24 -30 -35 -38 -37 -38 -231
NET COST OF COVERAGE PROVISIONS 3 5 58 110 143 154 150 149 151 161 169 1,252
Sources: Congressional Budget Office and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation.
Notes: The Affordable Care Act is comprised of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148) and the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-152).
Numbers may not add up to totals because of rounding.
CHIP = Children's Health Insurance Program
a. Does not include federal administrative costs that are subject to appropriation.
b. Positive numbers indicate increases in the deficit, and negative numbers indicate reductions in the deficit.
c. Under current law, states have the flexibility to make programmatic and other budgetary changes to Medicaid and CHIP. CBO estimates that state spending on Medicaid and CHIP in the 2012-2022 period would increase by about
$73 billion as a result of the coverage provisions.
d. Includes spending for high-risk pools, premium review activities, loans to co-op plans, grants to states for the establishment of exchanges, and the net budgetary effects of proposed collections and payments for risk adjustment and
transitional reinsurance.
e. Figures may not equal the amounts shown in the table entitled "Health Insurance Exchanges: CBO's March 2012 Baseline" (posted on CBO's Web site) because different related items are included in the two tables.
f. The effects on the deficit of this provision include the associated effects on tax revenues of changes in taxable compensation.
g. The effects are almost entirely on tax revenues. CBO estimates that outlays for Social Security benefits would increase by about $7 billion over the 2012-2022 period, and that the coverage provisions would have negligible effects on
outlays for other federal programs.
TABLE 3.
March 2012 Estimate of the Effects of the Affordable Care Act on Health Insurance Coverage
EFFECTS ON INSURANCE COVERAGE
a
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
(Millions of nonelderly people, by calendar year)
Prior-Law Medicaid and CHIP 34 34 35 34 32 32 31 32 32 32 32
Coverage
b
Employer 154 156 157 157 159 160 160 161 161 160 161
Nongroup and Other
c
25 25 25 27 28 28 31 30 30 31 31
Uninsured
d
55 56 56 56 56 57 58 57 59 60 60
TOTAL 269 271 272 274 275 277 280 280 282 283 284
Change Medicaid and CHIP * 1 13 15 17 16 16 16 17 17 17
Employer
e
1 1 -2 -2 -4 -5 -5 -5 -4 -3 -3
Nongroup and Other
c
1 * -1 -1 -2 -2 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3
Exchanges 0 0 8 12 20 22 23 23 22 23 22
Uninsured
d
-2 -2 -18 -24 -30 -31 -31 -31 -32 -33 -33
Uninsured Population Under the ACA
Number of Uninsured Nonelderly People
d
53 53 38 32 26 26 26 26 26 27 27
Insured Share of the Nonelderly Population
a
Including All Residents 80% 80% 86% 88% 91% 91% 91% 91% 91% 90% 90%
Excluding Unauthorized Immigrants 82% 82% 88% 91% 93% 93% 93% 93% 93% 93% 93%
Memo: Exchange Enrollees and Subsidies
Number with Unaffordable Offer from Employer
f
* * 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Number of Unsubsidized Exchange Enrollees 1 2 4 4 4 5 5 5 5
Average Exchange Subsidy per Subsidized Enrollee $4,780 $5,040 $5,210 $5,300 $5,780 $6,170 $6,490 $6,940 $7,270
Sources: Congressional Budget Office and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation.
Notes: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is comprised of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148) and the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-152).
CHIP = Children's Health Insurance Program; * = between 0.5 million and -0.5 million.
a. Figures for the nonelderly population include only residents of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
b. Figures reflect average annual enrollment; individuals reporting multiple sources of coverage are assigned a primary source. To illustrate the effects of the ACA, which is now current law, changes in coverage are shown
compared with coverage projections in the absence of that legislation, or "prior law."
c. Other includes Medicare; the effects of the ACA are almost entirely on nongroup coverage.
d. The count of uninsured people includes unauthorized immigrants as well as people who are eligible for, but not enrolled in, Medicaid.
e. The change in employment-based coverage is the net result of changes in offers of health insurance from employers and enrollment by workers and their families. For example, in 2019, an estimated 11 million people who would have
had an offer of employment-based coverage under prior law will lose their offer under current law, and another 3 million people will have an offer of employment-based coverage but will enroll in health insurance from another source
instead. These flows out of employment-based coverage will be partially offset by an estimated 9 million people who will newly enroll in employment-based coverage under the ACA.
f. Workers who would have to pay more than a specified share of their income (9.5 percent in 2014) for employment-based coverage could receive subsidies via an exchange.