The entire Republican reform effort hinges on getting the tax credits right. A poorly-designed credit will lead millions to lose their health insurance and incentivize them to remain poor. It will harm efforts to reform the Medicaid program, because the insufficient tax credits won’t form a viable alternative. On the flip side: there is great opportunity in getting health reform right. The right kind of means-tested tax credit could make individual health insurance markets work for tens of millions of Americans. That success, in turn, could improve the opportunities for long-term entitlement reform, by giving Americans a robust option to buy insurance on their own.

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