Posted on 05/29/2018 7:52:52 AM PDT by reaganaut1
Alex Azar will soon make his most consequential decision as health and human services secretary. President Trump has asked HHS to expand health-insurance protections in a way that could make coverage more affordable and improve the outlook for Obama Care’s risk pools. Whether Mr. Azar will oblige is uncertain. Some officials don’t understand that Mr. Trump’s request would expand consumer protections, or mistakenly believe HHS lacks the authority to grant it.
The need for action is clear, as ObamaCare premiums keep skyrocketing. Rate hikes as high as 91% will hit many consumers just before Election Day. Maryland insurance commissioner Al Redmer warns ObamaCare is in “a death spiral.”
So-called short-term health plans, exempt from ObamaCare’s extensive regulations, are providing relief. Such plans often cost 70% less, offer a broader choice of providers, and free consumers to enroll anytime and purchase only the coverage they need.
But there’s a downside. When enrollees fall ill, either their premiums spike or they lose coverage, leaving an expensive ObamaCare plan as the only alternative. Markets solved that problem decades ago via “renewal guarantees,” which allow enrollees who get sick to keep paying the same premiums as healthy enrollees.
In 2016, in an effort to force people into ObamaCare plans, the Obama HHS shortened the maximum duration for short-term plans from a year to three months and banned renewal guarantees. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners complained this reduced consumer protections and exposed the sick to greater risk, including the risk of having no coverage. Enrollment in short-term plans fell below 100,000 in 2017, from nearly 150,000 in 2015.
Last October Mr. Trump asked HHS to reverse the Obama rule. HHS proposed in February to allow 12-month terms and renewal guarantees.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
The GOP goes after Obamacare, at their own peril.
Just saying.
Leave it alone, GOP.
Don’t touch it. Don’t.
Maybe your choice for 2020 will get it done.
Who is that?
I say just wait for McCain to die and vote on the skinny repeal again. Don’t even wait to see who Ducey brings in to replace him. Just immediately call a vote on it. If McCain hangs on until after the election and we gain even one seat do it the day after the election.
See the thread below about how whatever idiot is Governor of Arizona these days is going to appoint McCain’s widow when he dies.
Skinny repeal ain’t happening.
The (R)N(C) farked it all by NOT being able to pass any one of the 6+ bills it had passed prior...after winning majorities across the board.
Smaller, less intrusive, Constitutional govt my @$$.
We really should be able to do better for as much money as we spend.
We spend enough for nearly everyone to have the services they need except for the most expensive and esoteric surgeries and drugs.
I’m tired of having the most expensive healthcare in the world to essentially subsidize the R&D for the rest of the world.
Repeal of O care is never going to happen. Trump supports the elimination of excluding preexisting conditions in health insurance. So we have permanently moved the government into financing health care spending versus regulating health care insurance. This move is an end run around that and allows existing risk to be considered and it allows a very narrow window for the resurrection of private health insurance.
If this move is successful, The Obama plans will become the insurers of last resort and will be heavily subsidized. Forever and with Trump’s support.
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