Social Security promises most young workers today real returns of only 1.5% or less, counting the actuarial value of all promised benefits.

FORBES: Social Security Personal Accounts And The Financial Crisis

In order to avoid penalties, employers must offer a plan that covers at least 60% of the of the actuarial value of the cost of the benefits.

WSJ: Small Business Looks for Ways to Cope With Health Law

Exchange plans could be required to do separate actuarial value calculations: one for the regular Exchange population (using provider rates applicable to that population) and one for the Medicaid population (using the much lower rates typically used by Medicaid health plans).

FORBES: Arkansas: Replacing Medicaid Expansion with Obamacare's Exchanges Could Require 'No Additional Federal Costs At All'

The basic idea behind competitive bidding is that, say, on a county-by-county basis, you let private plans and traditional Medicare offer plans with the same actuarial value compete, to see who can offer the same package of benefits the most efficiently.

FORBES: Ron Wyden and Paul Ryan's Bipartisan Plan for Health Care and Medicare Reform

Moreover, the Exchange subsidies available to those with incomes between 100 and 138 percent of poverty would limit their insurance premiums to 2 percent of their income and would limit their liability for cost sharing to 6 percent of the actuarial value of the plan.

FORBES: States Face a "Sophie's Choice" on Medicaid Expansion