Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Maryland Is Latest State To Launch Counterattack Against Trump Administration's Attempts To Upend Health Law
The Associated Press: Maryland Suit Seeks To Protect US Health Law From 'Sabotage'
Maryland's attorney general on Thursday filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump's administration for recurring efforts he says are intended to dismantle the national health care law and chase people away from coverage. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court of Maryland comes as the latest push to scrap the Affordable Care Act has pressed ahead in Texas. (McFadden, 9/13)
Bloomberg: Maryland Sues To Save Obamacare As Texas Judge Weighs Killing It
The Maryland suit lands one week after the Trump administration told Fort Worth federal judge Reed O’Connor it has no qualms about his striking down the act, only that doing so too quickly could unleash "chaos." Twenty Republican-led states sued in Texas arguing the health care law became unconstitutional when Congress repealed the the tax penalty incurred for failing to comply with a requirement to obtain minimum qualifying coverage. (Harris, 9/13)
Chicago Tribune: Feds Slash Illinois Funding For Obamacare Assistance
Illinois is getting 78 percent less federal money this year to hire Obamacare workers to help people enroll in health insurance plans, causing some advocates to worry that more Illinois residents will go without coverage. The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is handing two Illinois organizations $389,216 this year, down from nearly $1.8 million distributed to five Illinois groups last year, the agency announced Wednesday. One of the largest groups that got grant money for navigators in the past, the United Way of Metro Chicago, won’t get any money this time around. (Schencker, 9/13)
San Francisco Chronicle: Obamacare Small-Business Exchange Insurance Premiums To Rise 4.6 Percent
Health insurance premiums for 5,700 small businesses in California — which employ roughly 47,000 workers — will go up 4.6 percent in 2019, Covered California announced Thursday. The increase applies to the small slice of California companies and workers that get their health insurance from Covered California for Small Business, the exchange created under the Affordable Care Act where companies with 100 or fewer workers can buy health plans for their employees. (Ho, 9/13)
Boston Globe: Premiums For State Health Connector Plans To Increase An Average Of 4.7 Percent Next Year
Premiums for Connector plans will, on average, increase 4.7 percent in 2019 — far less than the increases that took effect at the beginning of 2018, officials said Thursday. The rates for 2018 soared 20 percent, on average, and 24 percent for the most popular plans, after the White House halted federal payments that help subsidize coverage for many lower-income individuals. (Dayal McCluskey, 9/13)
Georgia Health News: State’s Uninsured Rate Up By A Fraction, Report Says
Georgia’s uninsured rate ticked up slightly, to 13.4 percent, in 2017, the U.S. Census Bureau reported this week. That’s the fourth-highest rate in the nation. (Miller, 9/13)
The CT Mirror: Insurance Department Approves On Average 3 Percent Rate Hikes For 2019 Plans
The Connecticut Insurance Department announced Thursday that premiums for individual and small group plans can rise only about 3 percent on average in 2019, lower than the increases approved in recent years. Insurance Commissioner Katharine Wade ruled that the average increase for individual plans is 2.72 percent, down from an average request of about 12 percent. (Rigg, 9/13)
