With ACA Prices Set To Soar, Trump Pushes Health Insurers To Lower Costs

Bloomberg: Trump To Summon Health Insurance Execs To Ask For Premium Cuts
President Donald Trump said he would convene insurance companies in the coming weeks in a bid to pressure them to reduce costs for Americans who will see their premiums rise following the expiration of Obamacare subsidies at year’s end. “I’m going to call a meeting of the insurance companies,” Trump told reporters on Friday at the White House. “I’m going to see if they get their price down, to put it very bluntly.” (Subramanian, 12/19)

Politico: Hakeem Jeffries Says Obamacare Subsidy Extension 'Will Pass With A Bipartisan Majority'
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Sunday he remains confident that Congress will extend expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits despite persistent opposition from Republicans. In a Sunday morning interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl on “This Week,” Jeffries dismissed Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s remarks that a clean three-year extension of the credits would be dead on arrival in the Senate, saying Thune “is not serious about protecting the health care of the American people.” (Wendler, 12/21)

Modern Healthcare: Exchange Enrollment Eye Plan Downgrades As ACA Subsidies Shrink
Health insurance exchange shoppers facing huge premium hikes are scrambling for deals during this sign-up season. Insurance brokers report high interest in bottom-tier, lower-cost Bronze plans, policies only available outside the exchanges and alternatives such as short-term plans. Some of those consumers are downgrading from Silver or higher amid skyrocketing prices tied to the expiration of enhanced subsidies at the end of the year. (Tepper, 12/19)

The Hill: Health Care Priority For Americans As Subsidies Expire
More Americans are listing health care as a top priority with Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire by the end of the year, according to a new poll. Almost 4 in 10 U.S. adults named health care or health issues as one of the top five issues they want the government to address in an open-ended question presented in a survey backed by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The Friday poll found that health care was the top issue for 45- to 59-year-olds, with 54 percent of the demographic ranking concerns as their top priority. (Fields, 12/19)

KFF Health News’ ‘On Air’: Journalists Zero In On 'Certificate Of Need' Laws And Turbulent Obamacare Enrollment Season
KFF Health News senior correspondent Renuka Rayasam discussed gun violence in Bogalusa, Louisiana, on KALW’s Your Call on Dec. 19. (12/20)

What lawmakers are saying —

The Hill: James Lankford Defends GOP Stance On Obamacare
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said he would leave it to the American people to decide whether they blame Republicans for the lapse in enhanced ObamaCare subsidies at the end of the year, but he defended GOP efforts to strike a deal on the issue in recent weeks. In an interview Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” the conservative senator was asked if he shares Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) view that Republicans could pay the price politically if they let the COVID-era enhanced tax credits for Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace plans expire at the end of the year. (Fortinsky, 12/21)

Politico: Democrats Are United In Bashing GOP On Obamacare. Medicare For All Could Reopen A Rift
Progressives are pushing Medicare for All in some of the Democratic Party’s most competitive Senate primaries next year, threatening the unity the party has found on attacking Republicans over expiring Obamacare subsidies. In Maine, Graham Platner said he’s making Medicare for All a “core part” of his platform in his race against Gov. Janet Mills, the establishment pick who’s called for a universal health care program. In Illinois, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and Rep. Robin Kelly are both championing the concept — and calling out rival Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi for not fully embracing it. (Kashinsky and Schneider, 12/21)

The Washington Post: ACA Enrollment Fraud Roiled Subsidy Extension Debate In Congress
The Florida insurance brokers offered an enticing deal to unemployed and homeless people: Enroll in a Healthcare.gov health plan they weren’t eligible for in exchange for gift cards, food, alcohol or cash. They coached them to lie about their income to qualify for heavily subsidized coverage, according to court documents. Sometimes they enrolled people without their knowledge. A federal jury convicted Cory Lloyd and Steven Strong last month of collecting millions of dollars in commissions between 2018 and 2022 through a widespread plot to defraud the federal insurance marketplace. (Winfield Cunningham, 12/19)

Medicaid and Medicare developments —

Modern Healthcare: CMS Creates Rural Health Transformation Office 
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services formed the Office of Rural Health Transformation, the agency announced Friday. The new office oversees the Rural Health Transformation Program, a $50 billion fund established under the tax law for states to improve access to care and boost outcomes in rural communities. CMS tasked the office with developing application review criteria, distributing funds to states, fielding public comments, readying data infrastructure, monitoring the progress of states’ transformation plans and rooting out waste, fraud and abuse, among other responsibilities, according to a Federal Register notice. (Kacik, 12/19)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Proposes New Requirements For Transparency In Coverage Rule 
The Trump administration Friday proposed refining health insurance companies’ price transparency requirements. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a draft regulation that would change how health insurance companies and employers must disclose their negotiated rates with providers. “Americans have a right to know what healthcare costs before they pay for it,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. said in a news release Friday. (Tepper, 12/19)

KFF Health News: Medicaid Health Plans Step Up Outreach Efforts Ahead Of GOP Changes
Carmen Basu, bundled in a red jacket and woolly scarf, stood outside the headquarters of her local health plan one morning after picking up free groceries. She had brought her husband, teenage son, and 79-year-old mother-in-law to help. They grabbed canned food, fruit and vegetables, and a grocery store gift card. And then Basu spotted a row of tables in the parking lot staffed by county social service workers helping people apply for food assistance and health coverage. Her mother-in-law, also a Medicaid recipient, might qualify for food assistance, she was told. (Boyd-Barrett, 12/22)

VTDigger: Centers For Children With Autism Fear Proposed Medicaid Changes May Threaten Ability To Operate
Kingston attends an Applied Behavior Analysis, or ABA, center called Bounce. The Essex program looks like a preschool, but it’s a clinical space where he and 46 other students receive personalized ABA treatment designed to reduce their problem behaviors and increase their skills — things like articulating their needs and feelings, potty-training and putting on clothes. Bounce is one of 20 ABA providers in Vermont who receive Medicaid — nearly half of those are other clinics. But, proposed changes to Vermont Medicaid billing rules have made several ABA providers across the state fearful about their ability to continue doing this work. (Gieger, 12/19)