Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Coalition Of 20 Republican-Led States Suing Over Health Law Asks For Temporary Injunction
The Associated Press: 20 States Seek To Block Obama's Health Care Law
Twenty Republican-led states are seeking to temporarily invalidate former President Barack Obama's health care law while their larger lawsuit against it proceeds. In a February suit, Texas and Wisconsin led a coalition arguing that the Affordable Care Act is no longer constitutional after the Republican-backed tax overhaul eliminated fines for not having health care coverage. Sixteen states with Democratic governors later sought to intervene. They suggested that Democratic attorneys general will have to defend the law because President Donald Trump's administration won't. (4/26)
Dallas Morning News: Paxton-Led Coalition In Pursuit Of Obamacare Repeal Seeks Injunction By Year's End
Attorney General Ken Paxton is urging a federal court to eliminate Affordable Care Act regulations in Texas before the end of the year. Paxton and Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel are leading a 20-state coalition that sued in February, challenging the constitutionality of the law. On Thursday, the coalition asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to grant a preliminary injunction by Jan. 1, 2019. (Wang, 4/26)
In other health law news —
Modern Healthcare: CMS Extension Of Transitional Health Plans Could Ding ACA Market
The CMS has once again allowed insurers and states to renew so-called transitional health plans that pre-dated Affordable Care Act coverage requirements and that don't have to comply with those rules. State officials have the option to end these "grandmothered" plans in the individual and small-group markets. But about three dozen states have allowed them to continue, even though experts say moving transitional plan enrollees into the ACA-regulated market likely would bring down premiums. (Meyer, 4/26)
Politico Pro: Health Care Industry Opposes Trump’s Plans To Expand Short-Term Coverage
The health care industry is largely united in opposition to the Trump administration’s efforts to expand short-term plans that don’t meet the Affordable Care Act’s coverage requirements. Groups representing insurers, hospitals, doctors and patients all offered strong criticism of the proposal in recent comments to CMS, warning that making it easier to purchase skimpier plans will siphon off healthier customers from Obamacare and further destabilize the law’s wobbly marketplaces. (Demko, 4/26)
