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]
obamacare
Judge Won’t Block Trump’s Plan To Halt Billions In Cost-Sharing Payments To Health Insurers
By 10.25.17
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]
Trump Cuts Off Billions Of Dollars In Cost-Sharing Payments To Insurers, Putting Obamacare Marketplaces At Risk
By 10.12.17 — Updated: 10.13.17
Only hours after signing an executive order that undermines several key aspects of the current health care law, President Trump has made good on his repeated threat to pull the plug on billions of dollars in subsidies provided by the federal government to insurers in the individual plan market. [More]
California Sues To Stop Trump Administration Rollback Of Insurance Birth Control Requirement
By 10.6.17
Within hours of the Trump Administration announcing two new rules that would allow businesses to opt out of offering their employees insurance that covers birth control, the attorney general for the state of California has filed a lawsuit to block the regulations from going into effect. [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]
GOP Leadership Says There Will Be No Senate Vote On Latest Obamacare Repeal Bill
By 9.26.17
Facing implacable opposition and a Sept. 30 deadline to pass a bill to repeal and replace large chunks of the Affordable Care Act, the Republican leadership in the Senate has decided not to vote on a measure that seemed destined to come up short of passage. [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 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]
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]
Appeals Court Will Let States Defend Obamacare Subsidies That White House Likely Won’t
By 8.1.17
A federal appeals court has granted a request from 16 attorneys general to allow them to intervene in a long-running legal challenge to billions of dollars in federal subsidies provided by the Affordable Care Act. [More]
So Is Congress’ Effort To Repeal Obamacare Actually Dead For Real, Or What?
By 7.28.17
It’s been a heck of a week in D.C. On Tuesday afternoon, the Senate held a high-drama, high-stakes vote to move on a proposal to repeal and/or replace the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). That kicked off a frankly bonkers week of politics and politicking, with debate — and Senators’ support — all over the map. In the wee small hours of Friday morning, that effort finally shambled to a halt, fatally collapsing on itself. But is this actually the end of Congressional efforts to undo the ACA? [More]
Obamacare Repeal Effort Falls Flat As GOP Can’t Muster Votes In Senate
By 7.27.17 — Updated: 7.28.17
After three days of debate and several fruitless votes on amendments, the Senate Republicans were unable to obtain enough support to pass their so-called “skinny” repeal of the Affordable Care Act. [More]
Insurance Companies, Actuaries, Physicians Warn Against Repeal Of Obamacare’s ‘Individual Mandate’
By 7.27.17
The various “repeal and replace” factions have targeted different aspects of the Affordable Care Act: Some want to slash Medicaid; some want to cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood; some say they must repeal taxes on tanning salons. One goal they all have in common is to get rid of the law’s “individual mandate,” the requirement that most people must have some sort of health insurance or pay a penalty. Now the insurance industry, along with physicians, and risk-assessing actuaries, are warning the Senate that gutting this mandate could cause big problems down the road. [More]
First Attempt At Repeal-Only Of Obamacare Falls Short In Senate
By 7.26.17
After falling far short of the votes needed to move forward with its sweeping measure to repeal and replace large parts of the Affordable Care Act, the Senate took another vote this afternoon, this time on a bill that simply repeals key aspects of the ACA without including any replacement. [More]
Senate Votes Down Controversial Repeal, Replace Plan For Obamacare; More Proposals To Come
By 7.25.17 — Updated: 7.26.17
Hours after the Senate needed Vice President Mike Pence to break a 50-50 tie to move forward with debate on healthcare, the GOP’s controversial repeal-and-replace plan has come up several votes short of being accepted. Yet this is far from the end for this matter. [More]
Additional Parts Of Obamacare Repeal Bill Break Senate Rules, Says Parliamentarian
By 7.25.17
The Senate Parliamentarian — the nonpartisan official who advises the upper chamber on the rules regarding legislative matters — has added to her previous list of concerns about the Republican bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, raising new concerns about the GOP’s ability to pass the legislation in its current state. [More]
Senate Votes To Move Forward With Debate On Obamacare Repeal Bill; What Happens Now?
By 7.25.17
The Senate narrowly voted today to move forward with its still-vague plan to repeal and possibly replace the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). The vote itself was a nail-biter — but the high drama is only just beginning, as the Senate now has to hammer out the details of what, exactly, it is proposing to replace the ACA with. [More]
