Fresh hopes for resuscitating the American Health Care Act are pegged to an amendment being offered by Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) that aims to attract enough conservatives and moderates so the measure can pass in the House. The tentative deal would allow states to apply for limited waivers from some of ObamaCare’s regulatory requirements if they establish a high risk pool to protect sicker enrollees. While some senior White House administration officials suggested that a vote will occur next week, Speaker Ryan won’t bring it up unless he knows there are enough votes for passage.
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Insurance executives, as well as the head of the trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans, met with Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, on Tuesday. Insurers have been pressuring administration officials and lawmakers to fund the ACA’s cost-sharing reduction payments. Insurers have struggled to adjust to the individual marketplaces since the ACA created the exchanges, and the ACA’s uncertain political future has only added to the questions they face as they approach the June 21 deadline for filing their 2018 premium rate requests. That will be the first indication of how the individual exchanges fare next year.
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Many people are going without insurance under ObamaCare because they cannot afford the law’s expensive plans or aren’t aware of their options. Congress can help these Americans and many others get insurance by enrolling them in no-premium, no-obligation plans from which they could withdraw if they wanted to. Opponents will argue that automatic enrollment infringes on personal liberty. But people placed into such coverage would be free to opt out or to select an option that better suits their needs. Few people opt out of employer pensions when they are placed into them automatically, and no-premium insurance would impose no cost on the enrollees.
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With time running out to set insurance prices and uncertainty surrounding whether the Trump administration will continue funding cost-sharing subsidies on the ACA exchanges, several states are giving health insurers a little more wiggle room to file 2018 rates. State insurance regulators hope an extra few weeks to price plans will be enough to ease the insurance industry’s jitters created by efforts to repeal and replace the ACA and keep insurers from bailing on the exchanges. Colorado, New Hampshire, Oregon and Kentucky have extended deadlines for insurers to submit rates for 2018 ACA health plans.
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