The Senate health committee will hold two hearings early next month on how the nation's individual health insurance marketplaces can be stabilized, as party leaders grasp for a fresh path following the collapse of the Republican effort to repeal and replace much of former President Barack Obama's health care law.

With ongoing uncertainty around the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the board that oversees California’s health care marketplace took action to stabilize the exchange on Thursday. Their goal was to convince insurance companies to continue offering health plans through Covered California.

Taxpayers who do not have minimum essential coverage (through an employer, a government program, or individual insurance) or qualify for an exemption must pay an individual responsibility tax.

As health savings accounts grow in popularity, this is an opportunity for brokers. Employers are wondering if they should take the leap and offer them to their employees.

The role remains the same: The agency will continue enforcing and administering tax provisions of the law and move forward on guidance projects it may have avoided advancing during the months of tumult in Congress, health care attorneys told Bloomberg BNA.

A fast-approaching deadline for insurers to commit to selling health plans next year under the Affordable Care Act is pressuring Republican lawmakers to decide quickly whether to shore up the law and ease the path for insurers or continue efforts to roll it back.