If Congress can't come to agreement on any sort of changes to the Affordable Care Act — a reasonable assumption, given the lack of action in the last six years — the law will continue operating on autopilot for another two to four years. What happens then?
Health analysts point to a few different scenarios. The most optimistic projection is that the law could naturally work out its kinks and be fine — i.e., more people would enroll and more insurers would participate, creating a healthy market. On the other side of the spectrum, the ACA exchanges could fall into a death spiral of fewer healthy enrollees and fewer insurers offering products. Or mix of the two could occur, depending on location, these analysts say.
