Outside the Beltway

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1. charontwo says:
   Monday, 30 March 2026 at 05:34

   Here is a heartwarming story:

   “WaPo Gift”

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   She owed her insurer a nickel, so it canceled her coverage

   When medical bills started rolling in, a teacher’s aide wondered why her insurance suddenly wasn’t covering them.

   …

   Premium subsidies for ACA plans are automatically recalculated every time coverage is changed because of a life event, such as marriage, a change of job or a child turning 26. In June, Hill removed her mother from the family’s group plan because she turned 65 and became eligible for Medicare and Medicaid.

   The change triggered a recalculation of Hill’s monthly premium contribution, increasing it from $0 to 1 cent. She said she thought the amount was so small that she couldn’t pay it with her credit card.

   Hill acknowledged she had received some bills that noted, “You may lose your health insurance coverage because you did not pay your monthly health insurance premium.”

   But she said that her doctors collected the usual co-payments during subsequent visits and that her insurance broker told her not to worry, reassuring her that the plan was “active.” Hill figured the 1-cent monthly premium was probably a rounding error that couldn’t result in termination, she said.

   …

   Others have lost their coverage over owing small amounts, said Sabrina Corlette, co-director of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University. “This woman’s situation is not so unusual with the enhanced subsidies,” she said.

   The American Rescue Plan, passed in 2021, increased the amount of government assistance available to ACA plan holders. Those enhanced subsidies, which Congress let expire at the end of last year, meant enrollees with lower incomes had to pay little or nothing toward their premiums.

   The Biden administration found that, in 2023, about 81,000 subsidized ACA insurance policies were terminated because the enrollee owed $5 or less. Nearly 103,000 more were canceled for owing less than $10.

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2. charontwo says:
   Monday, 30 March 2026 at 06:13

   Here are links about the money being spent on AI/LLM investments:

   “Limk 1”

   “Link 2”

   It’s easy to think this might be a bubble.

   (You don’t need to give link 2 your email, just scroll past the box)

   Reply

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