I received a tip about this early this morning...which, unfortunately, I was unable to scoop anyone with due to being bogged down/caught up with the #TexasFoldEm drama.
Montana insurer wins lawsuit against feds over unpaid cost-sharing reduction payments
Several health insurers have sued the U.S. government over its failure to make cost-sharing reduction payments that help lower healthcare costs for certain consumers. One just scored the first victory. The U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled in favor of Montana Health Co-op, which sued the federal government for $5.3 million in unpaid cost-sharing reduction payments, finding that the government violated its obligation under the Affordable Care Act when it stopped paying the CSRs in October 2017."
The rest of the article is behind a paywall, but the gist of it is as follows:
U.S. District Court Judge Reed O'Connor, a George W. Bush appointee, vigorously questioned attorneys during the three-hour hearing but gave no indication when he would rule.
Lawyers for the Trump administration partially agreed with the red states' argument, concluding that the removal of Obamacare's individual mandate requires striking down the law's insurance provisions, including protections for people with preexisting medical conditions.
But the administration disagreed on the need for immediate action, arguing that any remedies should not be applied until next year.
In June 2018, President Trump’s administration announced – as part of a lawsuit known as Texas v. United States, brought by 20 Republican state attorneys general – it will no longer defend the ACA’s protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions.
Senate Democrats are preparing a long-shot procedural maneuver to reverse new Trump administration regulations that they say would sabotage the Affordable Care Act by expanding “junk” insurance that isn’t obligated to cover preexisting conditions.
Rhode Island is kind of an interesting state this year. The smallest state geographically and one of the smallest population-wise, they only have two carriers offering individual market coverage: Blue Cross Blue Shield and Neighborhood Health Plan. Way back in May both carriers submitted their preliminary 2019 ACA policy rate increase requests, averaging around 9.7% overall. What's most noteworthy is that unlike most other states, both carriers are mostly blowing off 2018 ACA sabotage factors like mandate repeal and #ShortAssPlans. Blue Cross isn't adding anything to account for the negative risk pool impact, while Neighborhood (which holds slightly more than half of the market share) is only tacking on about 2% in response.
OK, a little more self-serving news...until last week I hadn't been interviewed, quoted or cited by other media outlets for awhile, but with both the #TexasFoldEm lawsuit, the Brent Kavanaugh SCOTUS hearings and the 2019 Open Enrollment Period all coming up fast, I've had one of each of the above happen over the past week:
INTERVIEW: If you want to hear me flap my gums explaining the #TexasFoldEm lawsuit and the implications of it for 40 minutes or so, check out last week's special episode of Hopping Mad podcast with Arliss Bunny and Will McLeod:
The Big News this week is all about the #TexasFoldEm court case (which could potentially destroy the Affordable Care Act as soon as January 2019) and the Brent Kavanaugh SCOTUS confirmation hearings (which could potentially destroy both the Affordable Care Act and the rest of United States as soon as, oh, let's call it within a year or so).
I hope neither of these things happens, of course...but regardless of how things play out, I also hope to still be around to document, analyze and explain the latest healthcare policy drama as it happens for years to come.
ACASignups.net has been kept alive for nearly five years thanks to two main sources: Individual supporters who donate either once or monthly, and banner ads, which are usually generic. Today I'm honored to announce that the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, one of the most respected sources for healthcare knowledge and education, has also agreed to advertise on this site.
Vice President Pence said Thursday that Republicans plan to give another try to repealing and replacing ObamaCare if they do well enough in November’s elections.
Pence made the remarks to reporters while in Wisconsin to campaign for GOP Senate candidate Leah Vukmir, saying that if she wins, it would help Republicans with their goal of eventually repealing the health-care law.
“We made an effort to fully repeal and replace ObamaCare and we'll continue, with Leah Vukmir in the Senate, we'll continue to go back to that,” Pence told reporters.