- Democratic lawmakers overwhelmingly support efforts to get the entire population covered by insurance. And while many of them say they support “Medicare-for-all,” they often have different views on what that system entails.
- The full “Medicare-for-all” system being promoted by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and some others would jettison the private insurance market, and many centrist lawmakers and the health care industry are likely to fight it.
- Arkansas is the first state to put into use the work requirements that the Trump administration has approved for the Medicaid program. So far, 18,000 people — many of whom are working — have been kicked out of Medicaid coverage because they have not properly reported their work or other activities that allow them to maintain the federal-state insurance.
- The administration is reportedly considering offering states the option to take their Medicaid money in a block grant, a proposal advanced by Republican members of Congress during the debate to repeal the Affordable Care Act. But states have been hesitant so far to move in this direction.
- The administration’s rules for insurers operating on the health law’s marketplaces in 2020 will continue to allow them to load many of the cost increases they seek onto silver plans. The cost of those plans are used to determine subsidy levels, so many customers discovered that their subsidies grew and that they could buy non-silver plans for less money out-of-pocket.
- A new Gallup poll finds that the number of people who are uninsured is growing, reaching the highest point since 2014, just before the ACA’s marketplaces opened. This could likely be a talking point in the 2020 campaign.
