What We're Reading: 43,000 People Lose ACA Tax Credits

In July 2015, the IRS had warned 710,000 households that they were at risk of losing their Affordable Care Act coverage because they hadn’t filed a tax return. Shortly after, the number of households that hadn’t filed dropped. Now, 43,000 enrollees are losing their tax credits because they still failed to file a tax return for 2014, reported The Hill. As a result, these individuals will bear the full cost of their insurance plans.

Following promises he made on the campaign trail, Kentucky’s new governor, Republican Matt Bevin, is beginning the process to dismantle the state’s health insurance marketplace that was set up under former Democratic Governor Steve Beshear. The Washington Post reported that Beshear had told Bevin that shutting the exchange, which has been one of the most successful state exchanges in the country, would cost $23 million in state money. Shutting down Kynect will not affect the current enrollment period.

While medical tests are becoming more readily available to consumers, we are approaching a time where people need to decide when they want to learn more and when they don’t. Although technology advances are allowing for a proliferation of testing and self-tracking for health, this could lead to wasted money that does more harm than good, according to Bloomberg Business. Experts point out that people often fail to understand that medical interventions carry some risk along with benefit.