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On April 6, the House Rules Committee discussed an amendment to the American Health Care Act (AHCA) that would allocate $15 billion over 10 years to be used to develop an invisible high-risk pool (IHRP)—a risk-sharing mechanism meant to alleviate issues caused by the uneven distribution of health care costs. In a marketplace with some form…

The Trump administration says it is willing to continue paying subsidies to health insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act even though House Republicans say the payments are illegal because Congress never authorized them. The statement sends a small but potentially significant signal to insurers, encouraging them to stay in the market. The future of…

Here is something you can take to the bank. If Republicans can’t produce an alternative to Obamacare that solves the real problems of ordinary people, they will never be able to pass a health reform bill. But if they do solve problems, they will have no trouble getting support — even from Democrats. That means…

Republicans left Washington on Friday without a health-care deal, despite renewed negotiations after last month’s fiasco and a burst of White House diplomacy. Perhaps the two-week recess will be a cooling-off period and we hope the House’s factions can agree on a deal. If they can’t, then at least we’ll learn who’s responsible for defeat.…

House Republicans continue to work toward a health care deal but are currently in a holding pattern as they await further details from the Trump administration on proposed changes to the bill. “We don’t have bill text or an agreement yet,” Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters after meeting with the GOP conference Tuesday morning. He…

One of the ill-fated bill’s greatest weaknesses was that it did not have a unifying purpose or goal. Was it about access or coverage? Cost or quality? Individual choice or collective responsibility? The answer was, effectively, a bit of each, due to congressional negotiations and the president’s pre-inauguration pronouncements. Canadian F.H. Buckley caused a maelstrom…

A second major health-insurer has decided to quit selling individual policies in Iowa, raising fears that tens of thousands of Iowans will have no options for coverage next year. Aetna informed Iowa regulators Thursday that it had decided to stop selling such policies, which cover people who lack access to employer-provided coverage or government plans. The…

More insurance companies around the country are refusing to pay brokers commissions on higher-tier exchange plans or special enrollment sales as the companies face financial losses on the federal marketplace. “It’s the Wild West out here, and companies are doing what they can to survive,” says Ronnell Nolan, CEO of Health Agents for America, which…

The deal House Republicans reached on Thursday addresses a key problem with their alternative to the Affordable Care Act: steep premiums. The provision, which House Republicans decided to add to their Obamacare replacement bill before they face constituents during the Easter recess, would dole out $15 billion to states over about a decade to help insurers cover the…

It looks like House Republicans have been trying over the past few days to coalesce around a revised version of the AHCA. One key revision has involved a more assertive temporary federal reinsurance scheme to quickly lower premiums and stabilize the transition period to a new system. But maybe the most significant, and least familiar,…