Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Despite Threats To Cut Them Off, Trump Administration Makes Insurer Payments For June
The Wall Street Journal: Trump Administration Makes ACA Payments To Health Insurers For June
The Trump administration made contested payments to health insurers for the month of June, removing the possibility of an abrupt cutoff just as many insurers make decisions about coverage under the Affordable Care Act in 2018. The fate of “cost-sharing reduction” payments, which reimburse health plans for lowering copays and deductibles for millions of low-income people who get coverage under the 2010 law, often dubbed Obamacare, has been a running backdrop in the debate over Republicans’ bid to scrap that law. Senate GOP leaders intend to vote next week on legislation to repeal portions of the act. (Radnofsky, 6/20)
The Hill: Trump Administration Pays June ObamaCare Subsidies To Insurers
The payments, known as cost sharing reduction subsidies, reimburse insurers for providing discounts to low-income patients. Insurers have been threatening to raise premiums — or leave the ObamaCare markets — if they don't receive certainty about the payments from Congress or the White House. (Hellmann, 6/20)
CQ Roll Call: HHS Made June Obamacare Subsidy Payments, Official Says
Insurers — who face a deadline of Wednesday for filing rates in states served by Healthcare.gov — call the payments essential for the success of the marketplaces but administration officials have been coy about whether they would continue paying them. President Donald Trump had said he wanted to use the CSR payments as a tool in health care negotiations. Some issuers that have already filed their rate requests in certain states have pointed to the uncertainty around the payments as a key reason for asking to increase premiums by double digits. (McIntire, 6/20)
The New York Times: Middle Class, Not Poor, Could Suffer If Trump Ends Health Payments
Jane and Abe Goren retired here five years ago to escape the higher cost of living they had abided for decades in the suburbs of New York City. They did not anticipate having to write monthly checks for health insurance that would exceed their mortgage and property taxes combined. Ms. Goren, 62, is paying nearly $1,200 a month for coverage through the individual insurance market (her husband, 69, is on Medicare) and accumulating enough debt that her sons recently held a fund-raiser to help. For next year, her insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, has proposed raising premiums by an average of 22.9 percent, a spike it is blaming squarely on President Trump. (Goodnough, 6/20)
