As the ACA Marketplace subsidiary tax relief extensions navigate its way through Congress, the effects of higher premium costs are being forced upon the health insurance benefactors. When Congress failed to extend the subsidies taking place in December 2025, it proved to many Americans how weak the program truly was.
This program was designed to make healthcare affordable for everyone, but with one failed vote, proved you are one politician away from losing affordable healthcare. Obamacare, as it’s cordially known as, was only a bandaid, it never truly addressed rising healthcare costs. What the government did was use tax dollars to subsidize the majority cost for the consumer. What it didn’t do was standardize and cap costs for medical exams, procedures, and testing. Every medical practice can charge their set price and what the insurance doesn’t cover – the insured must. Since the insurance companies still need to make some profit, it doesn’t stop them from raising prices to offset the rising medical costs which are then passed onto the individuals. So while this is happening in the back office, the insured individuals never saw the smoke and mirrors the ACA truly was. Most American’s thought the cost of healthcare was lowered and guaranteed. Since most didn’t understand it, they saw their healthcare premiums lower they never questioned it’s validity.
Now that our eyes are opened, those who lost their insurance for whatever reason and those realizing how delicate their insurance is are looking for alternatives. One of those alternatives are discount healthcare plans. These types of plans are not insurance but rather a discount towards the services rendered which must be paid at the time of the procedure.
Another really interesting development has been the concept of Concierge Medicine. What is this? The PCP doesn’t actually exist anymore. You just have your doctor. Their patients pay a monthly fee (just like they do for their health insurance premiums), and they can see the doctor as many times as they need per month. These doctors have taken back a lot of the procedures they were forced to outsource and offering them in their office. There are no pre-existing condition exclusions because it’s not insurance. This makes for a more affordable and stress free health environment.
