Month: February 2017
House Republican leaders on Thursday presented their rank-and-file members with the outlines of their plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, leaning heavily on tax credits to finance individual insurance purchases and sharply reducing federal payments to the 31 states that have expanded Medicaid eligibility.
Representative Kevin McCarthy, the majority leader, keeps a souvenir from a dinner the night before this year’s inauguration behind his desk: an embossed menu autographed by Donald J. Trump. The president-elect was at his table. Mr. McCarthy is not only the second-most powerful Republican in the House — he is also one of the earliest and most earnest supporters of the new president.
Over the protest of California’s governor and Senate leader, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted to block the state from moving forward with its novel plan to provide a path toward retirement security for nearly 7 million low-income Californians.
As Republicans look at ways to replace or repair the health law, many suggest shrinking the list of services insurers are required to offer in individual and small group plans would reduce costs and increase flexibility. That option came to the forefront last week when Seema Verma, who is slated to run the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the Trump administration, noted at her confirmation hearing that coverage for maternity services should be optional in those health plans.
HSAs are increasingly gaining traction in the workplace — but primarily for the youngest members of the workforce, the second annual State of Employee Benefits report from Benefitfocus shows.
Roughly 89,000 Nevadans signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchange for 2017, about 900 more than in the previous year. The jump occurred amid uncertainty over the fate of the legislation and ran counter to a national downturn in Healthcare.gov enrollments.
The Trump administration proposed new rules on Wednesday to stabilize health insurance markets roiled by efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, by big increases in premiums and by the exodus of major insurers. The move came a day after Humana announced that, starting next year, it would completely withdraw from the public marketplaces created by former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement.
While Congress continues to struggle with how to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, the Trump administration today unveiled its first regulation aimed at keeping insurers participating in the individual market in 2018.
Humana announced on Tuesday that it would no longer offer health insurance coverage in the state marketplaces created under the federal health care law, becoming the first major insurer to cast a no-confidence vote over selling individual plans on the public exchanges for 2018.
A top House Republican on healthcare said Tuesday that lawmakers are looking to dramatically restructure Medicaid as part of an ObamaCare repeal bill.