Professors: Life-and-death stakes of the debate over ACA subsidies

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The government shutdown may be over, but Congress still hasn’t solved the biggest problem left on its plate: Extend the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies to avoid a doubling of insurance premiums or replace them with something new altogether. Lawmakers have committed to a vote in December .

While public debate about the issue has centered on dollars and deficits, the stakes are actually far greater: Access to comprehensive health coverage can determine whether people live or die.

A new idea is now gaining traction among some lawmakers: Let the subsidies expire and replace them with federal deposits into health savings accounts . These deposits wouldn’t lower the cost of buying a plan. Instead, the proposal assume