Month: June 2017

“Most health insurance executives will demur when you ask questions about whether the Trump administration is making Obamacare more expensive. Not Brad Wilson. He’s the chief executive of Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina, a health insurance plan that just filed a 22.9 percent Obamacare rate increase in 2018. Wilson had hoped to have a smaller rate increase this year; he feels like, after years of losing money, the North Carolina marketplace is finally stabilizing. But Wilson is asking for a big increase in 2018 because it does not expect the Trump administration to fund a key Obamacare program, the cost-sharing subsidies.”  More …

“Slowly but surely, we are seeing the practical effects of the Trump administration’s efforts to sow uncertainty over the Affordable Care Act’s future. They look like the very early stages of collapse. Over the past two weeks, key health insurance plans have quit or scaled back participation in Obamacare marketplaces. This means there are now 47 counties scattered across Missouri, Ohio, and Washington with zero health plans signed up to sell 2018 marketplace coverage.”  More …

“While a distracted nation continues to sift through what Comey said—and what it actually meant—Republicans have been meeting in secret to nail down their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act…  On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., invoked Senate Rule 14, which allows a bill to bypass committee consideration and be brought to the floor for a vote. That means no hearings and no debate, and improves the prospect of a vote before the Senate leaves Washington for its August recess.”  More …

“Lawmakers in Texas largely failed to take any significant action to address the state’s skyrocketing rate of pregnancy-related deaths just months after researchers found it to be the highest in not only the U.S., but the developed world.”  More …