Reinsurance and cost sharing reductions (CSRs) are among the top recommendations to stabilize individual markets and lower premiums.
The New Democrat Coalition, a caucus of 101 centrists, wants to work with Republicans to bring down Affordable Care Act (ACA) premiums and reverse the impact of what they consider the Trump...Arizona News
Various insurers, hospitals, and state regulators are encouraging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to continue a practice dubbed "silver loading" in fear that ending the rule would destabilize Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges.
Health insurers typically raise premiums on silver-level exchange plans to recover the...National News
A final order was issued on Oct. 5 to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to pay Montana Health Co-op over $1.2 million after a Sept. 4 ruling stating insurers are entitled to cost-sharing payments under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Judge Elaine Kaplan of the Court of Federal Claims sided with Montana Health...National News
US District Judge Vince Chhabria refused Wednesday to block President Trump’s order to end government subsidies required by the Affordable Care Act.
Trump said earlier this month that his administration would stop making monthly payments to insurers that reimburse them for reducing out-of-pocket costs, including deductibles and...National News
Cost-sharing reductions in flux with enrollment beginning in 9 days.
Consumers are getting very mixed messages about what premiums may look like. President Trump has declared an end to the subsidies (CSR) to lower premiums and out-of-pocket expenses. He has gone on to declare the ACA dead in a White House press conference last...Arizona News
The only seller of individual health insurance policies under the Affordable Care Act in 13 rural Arizona counties will decrease rates by about 1 percent across all its individual plans in 2018.
An average 7.2 percent increase was initially proposed in July. The reduction is possible because of improved profitability on current...National News
Five governors, Republicans and Democrats, testified before the Senate HELP committee Thursday.
The testimony of the governors of Massachusetts, Montana, Utah, Tennessee and Colorado came during the second of four hearings aimed at sketching out the policy options Congress has before 2018 insurance rates are finalized at the end of...
The first of four hearings seeking perspective and advice from outside the Beltway was held today.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said at the beginning of the hearing he hoped to reach consensus on “a small, bipartisan, stabilization bill” by the end of next...
A new direction may surface in the Affordable Care Act debates.
There may be three sources of energy after the stalled Senate "Repeal & Replace" activity. Two members of the Senate HELP Committee, the House-based Problem Solvers Caucus and governors led by Kasich and Hickenlooper.
We will see how it all plays out as Congress...
Insurers say the infusion is critical to market stability. Trump threatens to discontinue them to bludgeon the ACA.
The administration is making the "pay or no pay" decision every month. It brings grave concerns to an industry founded on predictability of risk and cost.
Premiums will rise if the CSRs are not funded, and experts are...
The subsidies are integral to insurers continuing to participate on the individual marketplaces.
President Trump is holding out the cessation of the CSR subsidies as a way to "Repeal & Replace" by causing the ACA to "implode".
The subsidies reimburse insurers for reducing deductibles, co-payments and other out-of-pocket costs...
The five-point agreement seeks to add a degree of certainty in health care markets.
Congressman Tom O'Halleran, D-Sedona and Representative Martha McSally, R-Tucson, saw an opportunity to bring some reason to the process.
The biggest proposal calls for mandatory funding of cost-sharing reduction payments, which help insurers reduce...National News
Insurance industry lists changes that can support the markets.
Since attempts to stabilize the individual market through legislation are at an impasse, major insurance companies, including Centene, Cigna and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, say there are things that can be done by HHS administratively to bolster the...National News
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) will begin work in early September on legislation to “stabilize and strengthen the individual health insurance market” for 2018.
Alexander, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee plans to work with the committee's ranking Democrat, Senator Patty Murphy...
The Executive Branch may support or undercut the ACA regardless of congressional action.
There is a difficult political reality: ACA marketplaces require active maintenance and federal support. The White House can take a number of behind-the-scenes steps to sabotage the exchanges and hasten their undoing. It has been deploying some of...