Why Your Plan Was Cancelled: Health Insurance and the Affordable Care Act

There's a bizarre reason why millions of Americans saw their health plans cancelled in 2013 and, as explained in a new video featuring Robert Graboyes of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, millions more will lose their plans in years to come. 

Insurance coverage for Americans will remain in permanent turmoil because the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires that all plans fit within cookie-cutter designs called "metallic tiers." (The tiers—bronze, silver, gold, and platinum—refer to the percentage of medical expenses a particular plan pays.) The video also explains that families may have to switch plans repeatedly because, as circumstances change, a plan that fits within a tier one year may not fit in any tier in a later year.