Alaska Judge To Rule Today On Suit Against Governor’s Medicaid Expansion Plan
The judge said the ruling will be on the Republican legislators' request to temporarily bar the Medicaid expansion while legal questions are fully argued. Also in the news, a look at how flexible spending accounts may be affected by the "Cadillac tax" and an analysis of the fiscal problems of the insurance co-ops set up in the health law.
Alaska Dispatch News:
Judge To Issue Initial Ruling Friday On Alaska Legislature's Medicaid Lawsuit
A trial court judge said Thursday he would deliver an oral ruling Friday on the Alaska Legislature’s lawsuit to stop Gov. Bill Walker from unilaterally expanding the public Medicaid health-care program. ... The ruling, [Judge Frank] Pfiffner said, will approve or deny the Legislature’s request to temporarily bar Medicaid expansion while legal questions are fully argued. Friday’s decision will not address the underlying question of whether Walker's executive power allows him to use federal money to expand the Medicaid program without legislative approval. (Herz, 8/27)
Politico Pro:
Flexible Spending Accounts May Vanish As Result Of Cadillac Tax
A popular middle-class tax benefit could become one of the first casualties of the Affordable Care Act’s so-called Cadillac tax, potentially affecting millions of voters. Flexible spending accounts, which allow people to save tax free for everything from doctor’s co-pays to eyeglasses, may vanish in coming years as companies scramble to avoid the law’s 40 percent levy on pricey health care benefits. (Faler, 8/27)
Politico Pro:
Despite Enrollment Gains, Co-Op Losses Pile Up
Nonprofit health insurers created with billions of dollars in Obamacare loans have doubled their enrollments this year, but they haven’t been able to slow their financial losses, according to a POLITICO analysis of their most recent financial reports. Although the nearly two dozen co-op plans have signed up almost 1 million customers during Obamacare’s second enrollment period, they’ve lost roughly $200 million during the first six months of this year. That puts the nonprofit plans on pace to lose nearly the same amount as they did during their first year of operations. (Demko, 8/27)
