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Trump to end key ACA subsidies, a move that will threaten the law’s marketplaces
WaPo ^ | 10-12-2017 | Amy Goldstein

Posted on 10/12/2017 8:05:12 PM PDT by NRx

President Trump is throwing a bomb into the insurance marketplaces created under the Affordable Care Act, choosing to end critical payments to health insurers that help millions of lower-income Americans afford coverage. The decision follows an executive order on Thursday to allow alternative health plans that skirt the law’s requirements.

The White House confirmed late Thursday that it would halt federal payments for cost-sharing reductions, although a statement did not specify when. According to two people briefed on the decision, the cutoff will be as of November. The subsidies total about $7 billion this year.

Trump has threatened for months to stop the payments, which help eligible consumers afford their deductibles and other out-of-pocket expenses, but held off while other administration officials warned him that such a move would cause an implosion of the ACA marketplaces that could be blamed on Republicans.

Health insurers and state regulators have been in a state of high anxiety over the prospect of the marketplaces cratering because of such White House action. The fifth year’s open-enrollment season for consumers to buy coverage through ACA exchanges will open in less than three weeks, and insurers have said that stopping the cost-sharing payments would be the single greatest step the Trump administration could take to harm the marketplaces — and the law.

Ending the payments is grounds for any insurer to back out of its federal contract to sell health plans for 2018.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Government
KEYWORDS: aca; braking; healthcare; insurance; obamacare; subsidies; trump; trump0carenightmare; trumpacasubsidies
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To: sheana

Is it just income?

In the only states I know about, with Medicaid many other assets are also considered.


101 posted on 10/15/2017 4:31:14 AM PDT by Paul R. (I don't want to be energy free, we want to be energy dominant in terms of the world. -D. Trump)
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To: Paul R.

No they consider other assets too. You’re allowed your home and 1 car.


102 posted on 10/15/2017 4:34:05 AM PDT by sheana
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To: steve86

Are you kidding? I looked into Medicaid when I was laid off (several years ago). The forms required me to not just state my income, but to list virtually every asset I had. I’d have to be truly destitute to get it (Medicaid.)

Ditto for my Mom, more recently.

Now, if it (the Medicaid) was just for my then very young daughter, IIRC the state (IL) only looked at income, and the aid was graduated to an income scale, with a premium involved. I believe that is still the case.


103 posted on 10/15/2017 4:49:37 AM PDT by Paul R. (I don't want to be energy free, we want to be energy dominant in terms of the world. -D. Trump)
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To: sheana

Right - that’s similar to any states I directly know of... (See post I made above this one.)

Thanks for the confirmation - my experience was some years back, when I was laid off, “my industry” collapsed, and the economy in general was very bad. I elected not to put my assets at risk, as I needed them to refire an old business to try to get by. We did - barely.


104 posted on 10/15/2017 4:53:49 AM PDT by Paul R. (I don't want to be energy free, we want to be energy dominant in terms of the world. -D. Trump)
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To: raiderboy

Your sentiment is understood, but, who the heck can buy insurance “that day” (one gets sick)? Private insurance enrollment periods are generally VERY limited.

A bigger question is, what does it matter, when individual plans’ premiums are over $1000 a month for a family of 3 or 4, the coverage one gets for that is nil, and one makes an average income? This is all window dressing — health care costs in the US are NOT sustainable.


105 posted on 10/15/2017 5:15:04 AM PDT by Paul R. (I don't want to be energy free, we want to be energy dominant in terms of the world. -D. Trump)
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To: marygam

Thanks, I’ll look into that, but when I looked into such plans back when ObummerCare took effect (the mandate) the cost for our family was still unaffordable, tho’ somewhat less than ObummerCare Bronze Plans with a subsidy.


106 posted on 10/15/2017 5:17:10 AM PDT by Paul R. (I don't want to be energy free, we want to be energy dominant in terms of the world. -D. Trump)
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To: Paul R.

Now, if it (the Medicaid) was just for my then very young daughter, IIRC the state (IL) only looked at income, and the aid was graduated to an income scale, with a premium involved. I believe that is still the case.

I thought I was correct on the income since every state has to follow the federal guidelines. But there really is no ‘premium’ for Medicaid. It is a share of cost. It’s different in that you are not paying the state a premium to use Medicaid like you would an insurance company. They just don’t pay a portion of your medical bills If you have a share of cost. A lot of people get confused because they’re so used to premiums.
I processed people who had substantial income but no assets other than their home. Their share of cost was $500 and up. They still used the MediCal because they had high doctors bills some months. So for a $1000 in doctors bills for the month it would only cost them $500.
The monthly share of cost does not roll over. It begins anew each month so if you don’t use it one month it doesn’t matter.


107 posted on 10/15/2017 5:36:08 AM PDT by sheana
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To: NRx
Given that ObamaCare was promoted fraudulently (”we'll have pass it to find out what's in it”) and that it was passed fraudulently (Harry Reid refusing to seat Scott Brown,who campaigned promising to vote against it) it's excellent news that DJT has driven a stake into its heart.
108 posted on 10/15/2017 6:58:51 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (ObamaCare Works For Those Who Don't.)
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To: Bobalu

It’s a cool picture but I’m so tired of that dumb “bigly” meme.

Trump says “big league”.


109 posted on 10/15/2017 7:15:08 AM PDT by enumerated
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To: Paul R.

You are right.We need thousands more doctors. We have allowed them to limit med school enrollment to nothing. Competition will drive costs down.


110 posted on 10/15/2017 10:02:02 AM PDT by raiderboy ( "...if we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall.”)
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To: Paul R.

You analyze everything like I do ;). I figure Medicare will be bankrupt when I get there. It is unsustainable but is a good deal for seniors today, who are getting heavily subsidized coverage and most didn’t pay in anything close to what it is costing.


111 posted on 10/16/2017 4:49:27 AM PDT by CottonBall (Thank you, Julian!)
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To: NRx

the subsidies were illegal.

If they want him to put them back in by presidential edict, then he can similarly fund building the wall the same way.


112 posted on 10/16/2017 4:53:10 AM PDT by Mr. K (***THERE IS NO CONSEQUENCE OF REPEALING OBAMACARE THAT IS WORSE THAN OBAMACARE ITSELF***)
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To: raiderboy
We need thousands more doctors. We have allowed them to limit med school enrollment to nothing. Competition will drive costs down.

Agreed, entirely. These days, when one goes to the doctor, they are more likely to see a youthful nurse practitioner or an import, that is, a doctor from India or Syria or...

That is nothing against Dr.'s from other countries in terms of ability -- some are great -- but many are simply difficult to understand due to heavy accents and such. Many nurse practitioners are very dedicated people too, but most just don't have the depth of knowledge, nor experience, of good doctors. I have to take my Mom to her PCP fairly often these days, and the difference between seeing the nurse practitioner vs. her doctor, whom my Mom has been with for many years, is striking.

Then there is going to the hospital, where you run into (these days) rotating, overworked staffs (including particularly the hospitalists) and no involvement of the PCP's. Continuity of care and actual understanding in depth of what's going on with the patient suffers horribly. I honestly think that shortened my Dad's life, and certainly what "quality" time he had left, by at least a couple years. But, what the heck could I do about it? NADA. It's like fighting City Hall, but 10x worse, and 100x more demoralizing.

This will take a lot of grief and a long time to fix -- at least a generation -- if it ever does get fixed.

113 posted on 10/16/2017 9:05:29 AM PDT by Paul R. (I don't want to be energy free, we want to be energy dominant in terms of the world. -D. Trump)
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To: CottonBall

That’s a good point: If I hang on a good while, will Medicare even still be there, and more so for my wife?

An awful lot of this boils down to a system with unsustainable costs, many of which are not even directly care related. Spending almost 18% of GDP on health care (this figure seems to vary a bit, and I’ve seen projections of over 20% by 2025) is disastrous, in the long run.

Expanding the above a bit, I look at how much is taken out of the economy by government (including the effect of over-regulation and an entirely over-the-top-complexity Federal Code including the Tax Code), how much by health care, how much by increasing corruption, how much by an overly litigious society... Purely from an economic standpoint, much less a moral view, my God, we have gradually submerged our beloved country in heavy mud and we wonder why it founders and moves so sluggishly...?

(Well, ok, most FReepers don’t “wonder”!)


114 posted on 10/16/2017 9:35:07 AM PDT by Paul R. (I don't want to be energy free, we want to be energy dominant in terms of the world. -D. Trump)
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To: Paul R.

There are 100s of thousands of students that could become doctors. Russia has done this for 40 years. That does not preclude specialists with aptitudes. This requires a national effort to expose this scam. I am hopeful that Trump will pick up on this and expose it.


115 posted on 10/16/2017 10:16:47 AM PDT by raiderboy ( "...if we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall.”)
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To: Paul R.; sheana

Seems to be some confusion in the replies. States such as much do NOT require the client to pay ANY part of medical claims, whether traditional or Expanded Medicaid, or any premium.

All states verify income status for both trad and Expanded Medicaid. Assets ARE NOT taken into account for EM whether child or adult. Repeat for Paul R.: Assets are NOT Counted for Expanded Medicaid, in any state that agreed to EM.


116 posted on 10/16/2017 4:11:59 PM PDT by steve86 (Prophecies of Maelmhaedhoc O'Morgair (Latin form: Malachy))
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To: steve86
Should be: "States such as mine" -- WA State
117 posted on 10/16/2017 4:13:28 PM PDT by steve86 (Prophecies of Maelmhaedhoc O'Morgair (Latin form: Malachy))
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To: Paul R.

It seems hopeless, doesn’t it?

That’s why we’ve Gone Galt. Or a modified version of it.


118 posted on 10/16/2017 9:56:21 PM PDT by CottonBall (Thank you, Julian!)
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To: NRx
Trump to end key ACA subsidies, a move that will threaten the law’s marketplaces

Obamacare is a $1 Trillion dollar tax bill on the American worker, period.

It needs to be shut down since the whole thing is so Unconstitutional!! Probably the whole thing is illegal but our Incompetent Congress let it happen.

USSCJ Roberts vote was the one who got this $1 Trillion Tax bill passed!!!

We know they had the goods on him for voting for this unconstitutional monstrosity.

119 posted on 10/17/2017 12:27:01 PM PDT by TheConservativeTejano
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