Tag: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

She also expressed concern about a separate executive order issued by Trump that the White House says will lower premiums by allowing insurers to offer cheaper plans. Critics, including some insurers, argue the changes could raise costs on plans for sicker people. “I will say that I am very concerned about the president's executive order that was issued yesterday and his decision to do away with an important subsidy that helps very low income people,” Collins said during a local Chamber of Commerce event in Maine. Collins, who didn’t support the Affordable Care Act, voted against a slimmed-down GOP ObamaCare repeal bill and has been critical in general of GOP efforts to repeal and replace the health care law. By the way, it was a group of 13 men who did it,” Collins said. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (La.) that would have turned ObamaCare's exchanges and Medicaid expansion into block grants for the states. She said on Friday that the Graham-Cassidy legislation “was a very bad bill” for her home state. “If senators can adjust a funding formula over a weekend to help a single state they could just as easily adjust that formula in the future to hurt that state,” she said.

President Trump touched off a political melee Friday after his administration announced it would “immediately” halt payments to insurers under ObamaCare, with Democrats claiming the move will “break” insurance markets – and the president saying Democrats should come to the negotiating table to “fix” the law if they’re so concerned. However, the administration had been making the payments from month to month, even as Trump threatened to cut them off to force Democrats to negotiate over health care. Trump has privately told at least one lawmaker that the payments may continue if a bipartisan deal is reached on health care, The Wall Street Journal reported. Its likely more will come from other states, as Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general, called the decision “sabotage,” and promised a lawsuit. They contend the subsidies to insurers are fully authorized by federal law, and the president's position is reckless. The decision came after Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to make lower-premium health insurance plans more widely available. Trump employed the executive order after the Republican-controlled Congress has been unable to pass a plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare. The president says he still wants Congress repeal and replace the Obama health care law. But he says his order will give people more competition, more choices and lower premiums.

Brian Sandoval ripped President Trump's decision to end key payments to insurers selling ObamaCare plans on Friday, calling the move "devastating." The payments help low-income people afford co-pays, deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs associated with health insurance policies. “It’s going to hurt people. It’s going to hurt individuals. It’s going to hurt people with mental health issues. It’s going to hurt everybody,” Sandoval, who has been critical of Trump's attempts to repeal and replace ObamaCare, told The Nevada Independent. “And so this is something that I’ve been very supportive [of] during my administration in terms of expanding health care and making sure that people have access to affordable health care and I’m going to continue on that path," he continued. In light of this analysis, the Government cannot lawfully make the cost-sharing reduction payments," the White House said in a statement. However, Sandoval is not the first Republican to speak out against the move, which is the administration's most aggressive attempt yet to do away with former President Obama's signature health-care law. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who has been against each of the last two GOP Senate attempts to repeal and replace ObamaCare, called Trump's decision concerning.

President Trump's latest effort to tackle health care and the Affordable Care Act is to allow consumers to buy short-term health care plans for up to a year, which experts say could destabilize the individual market and drive up costs for many consumers. Short-term insurance plans, which Trump's order allows people to stay on for up to a year, would likely be favored by healthy people in the individual market. These plans aren't governed by the ACA's rules, thus they would be "cheaper" because they cover far less. These plans would also likely have adverse effects for people who choose ACA-compliant plans, experts say. That's because the people who need more comprehensive care—older, sicker—would buy those plans, while healthier, younger people would likely choose the cheaper ones. They can also not only charge people with pre-existing conditions more than healthier people, they can deny coverage outright. The premium is just $30 per month. So you have $30 per month — but if you need any type of care, you'd be on the hook for $10,000, plus the costs for all of the care for your pre-existing conditions, unless you buy a rider at an additional monthly cost. For example, association health plans may be exempt from coverage of certain essential health benefits."

But now Democrats plan to turn the tables on the GOP, using the GOP’s failed attempts to repeal ObamaCare as a cudgel in the 2018 midterms. “The Republicans’ toxic health care agenda that spikes costs, strips coverage for pre-existing conditions, and imposes an age tax on older Americans will be the defining issue of the midterms,” said David Bergstein, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). In early May, the House narrowly passed an ObamaCare repeal-and-replace bill in a 217-213 vote. Even without a new GOP-made health care system to run against, Democrats believe they have enough ammo to hit Republicans by pointing to the previous repeal attempts, all of which scored badly in approval polls. The attack ads have already started. But Republican strategists say their candidates have plenty of material of their own to use against Democrats, arguing that Democrats are responsible for problems in the health care system. A House Republican strategist said the GOP will attack the recent push by some Democrats and championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) toward a single-payer health care system. Democrats face a daunting Senate map in the midterms, with 23 of the party’s members up for re-election, plus two seats held by independents who caucus with the Democrats. During the health care debate, pro-ObamaCare groups were quick to point out how the bill could impact certain states — particularly Republican states that expanded Medicaid, some of which are represented by vulnerable senators like Heller and Flake. Senate Republicans aren’t calling ObamaCare repeal dead, instead saying the effort will resume after passing tax reform.

Oklahoma officials are blaming the Trump administration for rising health-care premiums in the state after the administration missed a deadline to approve a key waiver for the state under ObamaCare. In a letter addressed to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price, Oklahoma's health commissioner rips the administration for missing a final deadline for a State Innovation Waiver, which would be used to lower premiums around the state. The waivers provide federal funds "to implement innovative ways to provide access to quality health care that is at least as comprehensive and affordable as would be provided absent the waiver," according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Oklahoma health commissioner's letter said that approving the waiver would have helped more than 130,000 Oklahoma residents and reduced premiums by 30 percent. "After months of development, negotiation, and near-daily communication over the past six weeks, the State and your departments agreed that waiver approval must be received no later than September 25, 2017," the letter from Oklahoma's Commissioner of Health Terry Cline reads. "As late as last Friday, September 22nd, an agreed upon approval package had been circulated with the state expectation, and federal department promise, that waiver approval would be forthcoming on Monday, September 25," the letter continues. But on Monday, the letter says, Oklahoma officials learned that approval would not be issued that day, and received no timeframe for the waiver to be approved. "Three days later, beyond health plan commitment and rate filing deadlines, Oklahoma is forced to withdraw our waiver request due to the failure of departments to provide timely waiver approval." "The lack of timely waiver approval will prevent thousands of Oklahomans from realizing the benefits of significantly lower insurance premiums in 2018."

The latest ObamaCare repeal bill would hurt the economy and reduce coverage levels, according to a new report released Monday. The S&P Global Ratings report found that the bill, sponsored by GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (La. ), would reduce coverage levels among those making between 133 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty line, or between $16,040 and $48,240 for an individual. Some eligible for the traditional Medicaid program may also lose coverage, S&P says. The ratings agency also found the bill could cost about 580,000 jobs and $240 billion in lost economic activity by 2027 while limiting the gross domestic product growth to about 2 percent a year over the next decade. The bill would end ObamaCare’s expansion of Medicaid and repeal much of the law, replacing it with block-grant funding for states. S&P said this increased flexibility comes with "fewer federal dollars, creating increased fiscal and operational burdens on the states." Rand Paul (Ky.) and John McCain (Ariz.) have already come out against it.

. Former New York Representative Anthony Weiner, who pleaded guilty in May to transferring obscene material to a minor, was sentenced to 21 months in prison. The Supreme Court canceled oral arguments for two cases related to President Trump’s travel ban, after the administration issued a new update to the ban. Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy will debate Senators Bernie Sanders and Amy Klobuchar on health care at 9 p.m. ET on CNN. : Alabama’s GOP Senate primary between Senator Luther Strange, a candidate backed by President Trump, and Roy Moore, backed by conservative firebrands like Steve Bannon, is testing Trump’s bond with his base.

. GOP leadership is heading toward a potential vote this week on a bill from GOP Sens. Two more senators on Sunday indicated resistance to the bill in its current form, and if they turn into hard "no" votes - added to the opposition already announced - then Republicans will not be able to pass the bill. Backers of the bill—including Cassidy and Graham, as well as Trump administration officials—insisted during Sunday show appearances that the legislation, that replaces ObamaCare's Medicaid expansion and insurance subsidies with block grants, could still pass the Senate this week. Short added that he anticipated a vote on the healthcare legislation to come up on Wednesday. "I think we're going to get the votes next week. GOP leadership faces no room for error if they want to pass the legislation by Cassidy and Graham, which is also co-sponsored by GOP Sens. They took our edits and then a day later they removed our edits," Cruz added. Senators and the White House are involved in a spate of final hour negotiations as they try to win over several key holdouts. Graham, echoing a tweet from Saturday by President Trump, said he thought they could potentially win back Paul—an uphill effort that could give them more leeway.

"We're going to see what legislation comes out," Royce told her. A spokesman for former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa accused the lieutenant governor of flip-flopping because after Newsom was asked if he explicitly endorsed the legislation — Senate Bill 562 — he responded that he endorsed "getting this debate going again." Speaking to reporters, Newsom said he saw a single-payer system in which the government covers healthcare costs as the best way to achieve universal coverage and said he would be "actively engaged in designing and developing it" if SB 562 does not pass next year. It began when Waters asked Mnuchin why he hadn't responded to a letter Democrats sent him asking for information about President Trump. No firm estimates have been made of the number of state residents who might lose health coverage under the Cassidy-Graham proposal, though earlier efforts from congressional Republicans were estimated to put millions of Californians at risk. In a rare court rebuke of the state Attorney General’s Office, a judge said Friday that the title and summary written for a proposed initiative is misleading — and that he'd do a rewrite himself to make it clear the measure would repeal recently approved increases to gas taxes and vehicle fees. Allen, who is running for governor in 2018, said the court decision showed the attorney general was trying to sway voters against the initiative. Gavin Newsom has made his most explicit endorsement yet of a controversial single-payer healthcare proposal that has roiled Democratic politics in California. Newsom appeared Friday before the California Nurses Assn., the most ardent backers of SB 562, a stalled bill to establish a system in which the state would cover all residents' healthcare costs. We will have universal healthcare in the state of California."