Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
After Months Of Hand-Wringing, Insurers' Deadline To Lock Into Marketplace Passes Without Dramatics
The Wall Street Journal: Health Insurers Stay In ACA Despite Fears Of Last-Minute Exits
Health insurers appeared likely to offer Affordable Care Act plans in all U.S. counties next year, despite months of drama and worries among some state officials about last-minute exits, ahead of a late-Wednesday deadline. Some major insurers that had signaled that they might pull back, including Cigna Corp., Health Care Service Corp., Molina Healthcare Inc., Highmark Health and Independence Blue Cross, this week said they would stick to the states and regions where they had filed to offer ACA coverage. (Wilde Mathews, 9/27)
Stat: A Patient's Guide To Enrolling In Obamacare In The Age Of Trump
In less than six weeks, despite months of Republican attempts to dismantle Obamacare, millions of people will return to HealthCare.gov to buy insurance. Or at least, they should.You might not know it from the political rhetoric, but the Affordable Care Act is still the law. Every American is still legally required to carry health insurance or face a tax penalty of at least $695. There will still be plans available on the exchanges in every county, and the federal government will still provide the subsidies that help more than 9 million people afford their premiums. (Mershon, 9/28)
The Hill: Senate Dems Demand Investigation Into ObamaCare Website Shutdowns
A group of Senate Democrats on Wednesday called for an investigation into the Trump administration’s decision to periodically shut down the federal ObamaCare exchange website in the middle of the next open enrollment period. Sens. Brian Schatz (Hawaii), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Cory Booker (N.J.) and Chris Murphy (Conn.) asked the Department of Health and Human Services's inspector general to investigate plans for hours-long maintenance shutdowns of the HealthCare.gov website. (Weixel, 9/27)
Houston Chronicle: White House Cuts Target Obamacare Enrollment Efforts
The Trump administration quietly has slashed grants this month to dozens of grass-roots groups that help enroll people in Affordable Care Act health plans, potentially crippling upcoming sign-up efforts for 2018. Some of these "navigator groups" in Texas have had their grants cut severely enough to force them to shrink outreach to the state's high number of uninsured and drastically reduce the staff who help people sign up or re-enroll for coverage. (Deam, 9/27)
Bloomberg: Obamacare Rates Rise In Markets Unsettled By Trump
A day after Republicans failed yet again to repeal Obamacare, confusion sowed by President Donald Trump’s opposition to the law is roiling the health-insurance market. In many states, insurers face a deadline of Wednesday to lock in their rates for next year under the Affordable Care Act, and some are announcing double-digit increases. Florida said Tuesday that most of its 45 percent average increase in premiums stems from the risk that the Trump administration will skip cost-sharing payments that reimburse insurers for lowering rates. Anthem Inc. said it would exit Maine, the latest state withdrawal for the one-time Obamacare stalwart. (Tracer, Edney and Tozzi, 9/27)
Georgia Health News: State Accepts Big Hikes On 2018 Exchange; Now It’s Up To The Feds
State insurance officials Wednesday gave approval to premium increases of more than 50 percent for the four insurers participating in next year’s insurance exchange in Georgia. The officials said that the huge rate hikes assume that subsidies for insurers to lower consumers’ out-of-pocket costs will not be paid next year by the federal government. (Miller, 9/27)
