- In blocking the Arkansas Medicaid and Kentucky work requirements (Kentucky for the second time), U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said the Trump administration’s approval “did not address … whether and how the project would implicate the ‘core’ objective of Medicaid: the provision of medical coverage to the needy.”
- A last-minute Department of Justice filing in another pending court case — this one renewing questions of whether the Affordable Care Act is constitutional — has thrown the national health care debate on its ear. The Trump administration Monday night changed its position on the case. Last summer, it refused to defend the health law in full, but said the tax law changes eliminating the penalty for not having insurance should result in only a few closely related provisions being declared unconstitutional. Now the administration agrees with the lower-court ruling in the case that the entire ACA is invalid.
- Democrats were thrilled by what they see as a political misstep by the president. Democrats rode the health issue to victory in many 2018 elections and see this as an opening to pursue the issue even more strongly in 2020. House Democrats this week also unveiled proposals to expand and shore up the ACA.
- The final sign-up numbers are in for individuals purchasing coverage on the ACA’s health exchanges. While enrollment dropped slightly, to 11.4 million, the continued stability of the individual insurance market suggests that eliminating the tax penalty is having less of an impact than some supporters of the law had feared.
