Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Despite Efforts To Chip Away At Health Law, Number Of Americans Who Began Paying For Coverage Increased
The Washington Post: More Americans Pay For ACA Health Plans, Despite Trump Administration Moves To Undercut Law
The number of Americans who bought and began to pay for Affordable Care Act health plans grew slightly this year, despite repeated efforts by the Trump administration to undermine the insurance marketplaces created under the law, new federal figures show. As of February, a month after the start of 2018 coverage, 10.6 million people had paid premiums for ACA health insurance, about 3 percent more than the year before, according to enrollment analyses released Monday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). (Goldstein, 7/2)
Bloomberg: More Americans Used Subsidies To Buy Obamacare Plans Than In '14
More than 8 million people in the U.S. got subsidies to help them afford Obamacare plans last year, while 5 million bought plans without help. The report from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services counts people who buy coverage on state- and federal-run markets, as well as people who buy some individual plans outside of the program. (Armstrong, 7/2)
The New York Times: When Health Insurance Prices Rose Last Year, Around A Million Americans Dropped Coverage
Last year, as insurance prices rose by an average of just over 20 percent around the country, people who qualified for Obamacare subsidies hung onto their insurance. But the increases appear to have been too much to bear for many customers who earned too much to qualify for financial help. According to a new government report, about a million people appear to have been priced out of the market for health insurance last year. (Sanger-Katz, 7/3)
And in news from the states —
The CT Mirror: Access Health CT Enrollment Rose, Along With Premiums
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, said 106,475 Connecticut individuals and families enrolled in a health insurance plan through Access Health CT this year. That’s up from 92,697 in 2017. Those figures were based on enrollees who had paid at least one month of premiums. (Radelat, 7/2)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Insurers Want Billions From Government For Reneging On ACA Commitments
Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative expected to receive $45 million in 2015 through a program in the Affordable Care Act to help offset the risk health insurers faced in a new market. The Wisconsin cooperative instead received $5.7 million. (Boulton, 7/2)
