Fox doctor pushes health care ideas that are “a disaster” and “primarily benefit the wealthy”

Fox’s Marc Siegel: “The idea of coercing young people to pay for older people who are sicker, who maybe did self-destructive things, you know that’s what caused premiums to skyrocket"

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

After Senate Republicans failed to pass a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Fox News contributor Marc Siegel hyped unworkable solutions to fix the law. Siegel suggested using “risk pools” to “separate out the sickest people.” These high-risk pools have been tried and, as Mother Jones noted, they have “a lousy history” and have turned out to be “a disaster.” The Commonwealth Fund also found that high-risk pools are “prohibitively expensive for consumers” and “offer much less than optimal coverage.” Siegel, additionally, endorsed health savings accounts (HSAs). As health economist Kathryn Phillips explained, HSAs “primarily benefit the wealthy, the healthy, and the educated,” not the uninsured. From the July 28 edition of Fox News’ Happening Now:

MARC SIEGEL: I think Andy was starting to get on something, Melissa, that goes to your idea, which is what about risk pools? Separate out the sickest people. Look, I’m not against government subsidies, but the idea of coercing young people to pay for older people who are sicker, who maybe did self-destructive things, you know that’s what caused premiums to skyrocket and the government is mandating that.

[...]

I like health savings accounts. I like people paying out-of-pocket. Let the government be where it belongs, to take care of the very sickest and to make sure they get care.