The focus on the Alexander-Murray bill right now is a little strange, since it would do virtually nothing to stabilize insurance markets or mitigate the effect of repealing the individual mandate penalty.

The vast majority of insurers responded to the cutoff of cost-sharing payments by increasing premiums on silver plans only. That had the effect of increasing premium subsidies and largely holding consumers harmless.

There are a few cases where middle-class consumers are seeing higher premium as a result of the cutoff of cost-sharing payments – e.g., where they are wedded to silver plans that carry surcharges, or in the handful of states where premiums were increased across the board.

There are other cases where consumers are better off as a result of the cutoff of cost-sharing payments. For example, higher premium subsidies have increased the availability of zero premium bronze plans. Alexander-Murray would result in these consumers paying more.

There is a bill out there that would lower premiums for middle-class consumers buying their own insurance and blunt the effect of repealing the mandate penalty – the Collins-Nelson reinsurance plan. But there’s surprisingly little discussion of it.