Despite Threats To Cut Them Off, Trump Administration Makes Insurer Payments For June
The insurers, however, want a more permanent guarantee on the subsidies. Meanwhile, The New York Times looks at who would be hurt the most if the payments stopped.
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 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)
Meanwhile —
Politico:
Looming Obamacare Deadline Forces Decision From Skittish Insurers
Decision day is here for the health insurers that serve Obamacare markets. The health plans must decide by Wednesday whether to file plans to sell through the federal exchange HealthCare.gov in 2018. But they’re still waiting for assurances the Trump administration will fund subsidies to reduce low-income customers’ health costs. The White House on Tuesday agreed to make the payments for June. But uncertainty over what happens after that is turning efforts to cover Obamacare’s poorest customers into a game of chicken — and adding instability to already shaky insurance markets. (Demko, 6/20)