Under the United States’ patchwork health care system, which includes employer plans, Medicare, Medicaid, and a marketplace created under the Affordable Care Act, millions of people lose their health insurance each year, according to a December 16, 2019 Boston Globe op-ed authored by Benjamin Sommers, professor of health policy and economics at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Sommers noted that changes in income are a significant driver of people dropping out of Medicaid and other subsidized plans, and he noted that one in eight people who have insurance through an employer lose their coverage annually.
Sommers provided several suggestions for improving the continuity of coverage, including offering subsidized coverage for middle-income families and expanding state Medicaid coverage.
Read the Boston Globe op-ed: The perils of a patchwork system