With All The Uncertainty, Insurance Officials Feel Their Hands Are Tied In Approving Premium Increases
“It’s very hard for a regulator to deny those rate increases when we can take a look at their bottom line and can tell they can’t continue if they can’t keep their head above water,” said Mike Kreidler, Washington State’s insurance commissioner and a supporter of the health law. Meanwhile, lawmakers are moving forward with bipartisan talks to try to stabilize the marketplace.
The New York Times:
With Affordable Care Act’s Future Cloudy, Costs For Many Seem Sure To Soar
Health insurers are aggressively increasing prices next year for individual policies sold under the federal health care law, with some raising premiums by more than 50 percent. By approving such steep increases for 2018 in recent weeks, regulators in many states appeared to be coaxing companies to hang in there, despite turmoil in the market and continuing uncertainty in Congress about the future of the law, the Affordable Care Act. (Abelson, 10/3)
The Hill:
GOP Gives Ground In ObamaCare Stabilization Talks
Republicans are willing to provide insurers with two years of ObamaCare subsidies under a bipartisan market stabilization bill, according to the Senate Health Committee chairman. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said continuing cost-sharing reduction subsidies for two years is a key part of the stabilization package he is trying to negotiate with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). (Weixel, 10/3)