Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Advocates Waging Against-All-Odds Battle To Get People Signed Up For Health Coverage
The Associated Press: Health Care Enrollment Counselors Facing Stiff Challenges
It's not easy being an advocate for the Affordable Care Act right now. Health care advocacy groups are making an against-all-odds effort to sign people up despite confusion and hostility fostered by Republicans opposed to President Barack Obama's signature domestic policy achievement. (Kennedy, 11/2)
The Associated Press: Free ‘Obamacare’ For Older, Poorer In Nearly All Counties
Older people with low incomes nearly everywhere would have access to free “Obamacare” health coverage next year, according to a study Thursday that found the Trump administration’s efforts to undercut the Affordable Care Act have broad unintended consequences. The analysis by the consulting firm Avalere Health found that in nearly 98 percent of counties served by HealthCare.gov, a 50-year-old making about $18,000 a year would be able to get a basic “bronze” plan for no monthly premium in 2018. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 11/2)
Bloomberg: How Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Threatens Obamacare
As Obamacare open enrollment begins, health-care providers in immigrant communities worry that the Trump administration’s hard line on immigration will spook some immigrants and their U.S.-born relatives away from seeking health insurance. ... About 17 percent of lawfully present immigrants under age 65 were uninsured in 2015, almost twice the rate of U.S. citizens, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. (The rate was even higher, 41 percent, among the undocumented, who can’t get health coverage under the ACA or, in most states, Medicaid.) (Tozzi, 11/2)
In other health law news —
California Healthline: Big Premium Hike? Blame It On The Kids
Dede Kennedy-Simington, an insurance agent in Pasadena, Calif., was “totally dismayed” when she learned recently that the premium on her family’s Blue Shield PPO would rise $391 a month next year — driven largely by huge increases for her two teenage children. The cost of insuring her 16-year-old daughter will spike 60 percent in 2018, and it will jump 38 percent for her 13-year-old son. (Perkes, 11/3)
Kaiser Health News: Facebook Live: It’s ACA Sign Up Season. Here’s What You Need To Know This Year.
The open enrollment season for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act began this week. And a lot has changed for consumers who buy their own individual coverage through the health law’s state and federal marketplaces. For example, the sign-up period is shorter than it has been in the past. (11/2)
Kaiser Health News: Podcast: ‘What The Health?’ How Confused Are We?
Open enrollment started with more of a whimper than a bang Nov. 1, as the Trump administration continued to talk down the health law it is required to operate. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, lawmakers continue to struggle to reach agreement on legislation to renew funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which expired Oct. 1. And President Donald Trump’s commission on the opioid epidemic released its final report and recommendations. (11/2)
The Baltimore Sun: Obamacare Signups Rise On First Day Of Enrollment Period In Maryland
Enrollments in health insurance through the state’s health exchange was robust on the first day of open enrollment Wednesday, with more people signing up for insurance than last year, officials said Thursday. Advocates and others had expressed concern that consumers would be confused by political wrangling and policy changes to the Affordable Care Act from the administration of Pres. Donald Trump that led to last-minute rate increases and a severe decrease in marketing dollars for the program. (Cohn, 11/2)
Politico Pro: Obamacare Open Enrollment Reveals Divide Between Rural And Urban Texas
Texas has two realities when it comes to Obamacare. It's home to urban counties with among the highest enrollment in the country, and to two of only four rural counties nationwide with not a single enrollee in the federal health insurance exchange. (Rayasam, 11/2)
For All Of KHN's Open Enrollment Coverage, Visit https://kffhealthnews.org/enrollment
