Despite repeated Congressional and Executive branch efforts, the full Affordable Care Act is still in place. That means insurance-shopping season is nearly upon us: Open Enrollment begins Nov. 1 (and ends Dec. 15). But there’s less money being spent on advertising and outreach this year, which means even the basics can be hard to get solid information about. So here’s our when-and-where of getting yourself covered for 2018. [More]
affordable care act
5 Things Experts Say You Should Know About Obamacare Open Enrollment
By 10.30.17
If anything is true of 2017, it is this: Confusion reigns. And nowhere do we see that more than in healthcare, where failed repeal attempts, executive orders, sudden, out-of-the-blue policy changes, and general unpredictable chaos have dominated the news.
But the fact remains that Americans still need access to medical care, and for those who don’t have insurance through their employer or the government, the 2018 Open Enrollment period for individual insurance plans officially begins on Nov. 1. So what are the things everyone should know, but which may have been overlooked amid the maelstrom? [More]
Judge Won’t Block Trump’s Plan To Halt Billions In Cost-Sharing Payments To Health Insurers
By 10.25.17
The federal judge overseeing a lawsuit filed by more than a dozen states to stop President Trump’s plan to cut off billions of dollars in payments to health insurance providers has decided to not issue a preliminary injunction preventing the White House from halting the subsidies. [More]
Trump Changes Mind, Comes Out Against Bipartisan Obamacare Stabilization Bill
By 10.18.17
If you feel like you’re getting whiplash just from trying to follow the healthcare policy debate in Washington, you’re not alone; the hits in this saga have been coming seemingly nonstop. After saying the federal government would no longer pay certain subsidies that make the insurance marketplace work, President Trump at first seemed to support a bill that would create short-term stability. But that was yesterday. Today, he’s apparently changed his mind and is now against it.
[More]
Senators Propose Bipartisan Compromise To Restore Insurance Subsidies
By 10.17.17
President Trump recently announced that he was pulling the plug on $7 billion a year in federal cost-sharing subsidies to insurance companies selling individual policies to lower-income Americans, but today a pair of influential senators announced a bipartisan compromise that, if approved, would restore those payments for two years, while also giving states more flexibility with rules under the current law. [More]
States Sue Trump Administration For Halting $7 Billion In Cost-Sharing Payments To Insurers
By 10.13.17
With a one-paragraph statement released late in the evening on Thursday, President Trump announced he was pulling the plug on $7 billion a year in payments from the federal government to insurance companies who sell individual policies through the exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act. Today, at least five states say they are suing to keep these subsidies in place. [More]
Trump Administration Undoes Birth Control Requirement For Employer-Sponsored Insurance
By 10.6.17
Under current law, most employer-sponsored health insurance plans have to include birth control coverage, but that will soon change, with the Trump administration announcing today that it is rescinding this requirement, allowing employers to decide whether they want to include this coverage in the policies they offer. [More]
4 Things The Trump Administration Has Done To Ensure Obamacare Enrollment Is More Difficult This Year
By 10.2.17
Tom Price failed to get the Affordable Care Act repealed and replaced during his brief tenure as Health and Human Services Secretary, but the surgeon-turned-congressman did manage to do some real damage to the annual ACA enrollment process before he left — making sure people have less time to sign up, less help getting through the process, and fewer reminders that the process has gotten more difficult this year. [More]
Budget Office: Obamacare Repeal Bill Will Leave Millions Without Quality Health Insurance
By 9.25.17
As expected, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has released a preliminary analysis of the Senate Republicans’ latest bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, and while the CBO did not have the time to provide the in-depth projections about how the legislation would affect insurance coverage, it does indicate that millions of additional Americans will be without quality health insurance if the bill passes. [More]
Senate Leadership Tries To Sweeten Obamacare Replacement Bill To Gain Support
By 9.25.17
The surprise hit show of the summer, “No, Seriously, What The Heck Is Going On With Congress And Healthcare, Though?” is back for the fall season. And in our latest episode, Republican leadership in the Senate is making last-minute changes to the latest Affordable Care Act replacement bill in a targeted effort to win over reluctant GOP lawmakers before their Sept. 30 deadline. [More]
Latest Obamacare Repeal Bill Would Gut Medicaid For Dozens Of States; Opposition Rising Inside Senate
By 9.22.17
The last-ditch proposal to effectively repeal the Affordable Care Act remains deeply unpopular, even while Senate Republicans try to rally the votes to make it happen. And in the midst of all that politicking, a new federal analysis shows that several of the states whose Senators’ votes leadership is trying to curry could be badly hurt by the bill. [More]
Everyone Hates Newest Obamacare Repeal Bill; Senate Plans Vote Next Week Anyway
By 9.21.17
After a politically chaotic summer where their first attempt met a dramatic late-night demise, Republican members of the Senate are mounting one last effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Basically every major stakeholder in the country has announced its opposition to the new bill, but the Senate is racing to squeeze in a vote before a hard deadline at the end of the month just the same. [More]
Senate Plans Meaningless Hearing On Obamacare Repeal Bill
By 9.19.17
One of the reasons that the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act met a dramatic late-night demise in July was the criticism that GOP lawmakers held no actual hearings on this matter that could directly impact many millions of Americans. As Republican senators look to make one last try at repeal before their clock runs out, legislators are finally holding their first, but ultimately pointless, public hearing on healthcare. [More]
Senate May Vote On Latest Obamacare Repeal Bill Without Knowing How Many People It Will Affect
By 9.19.17
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have only a short window of time to vote on the latest Republican legislation to gut and replace the Affordable Care Act, and if the GOP is going to push forward with a vote on this bill they will likely have to do so without having an idea of how many Americans will be affected, or what impact it might have on insurance rates. [More]
Senate Republicans Making One Last Effort To Take Down Obamacare
By 9.15.17
Yes, again: After spending the spring and summer trying and failing to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Republicans in the Senate have come up with one last Hail-Mary bill to take down the ACA and revamp American healthcare. [More]
Health Insurers Looking To Charge Higher Individual Premiums In 2018. Which Americans Will Be Hit Hardest?
By 8.10.17
Health insurance companies that sell individual coverage plans through state exchanges are currently in the process of setting the rates they will charge customers for 2018. And the uncertainty over the state of America’s health care laws and President Trump’s repeated threats to summarily cut off billions of dollars in federal subsidies to insurers has many of these companies asking for significant increases. But not everyone would have to pay those higher prices, and some could actually end up with slightly lower premiums than they pay now. [More]
New York AG Says States Will Do “Whatever We Have To” To Make Sure Obamacare Subsidies Continue
By 8.2.17
A federal appeals court recently allowed a coalition of more than a dozen states to intervene in a long-running lawsuit challenging the legitimacy of billions of dollars in federal subsidy payments to insurance providers. But regardless of what happens in that case, President Trump has repeatedly dangled the threat that he could pull the plug on those payments at any time. The states coalition says it is preparing for that possibility and is ready to take the White House to court if necessary. [More]
