Subsidies make health care affordable for those with low-incomes: The House GOP bill to repeal and replace Obamacare may be shelved for now, but Republicans still hold tremendous power over Obamacare's future. The payments are made directly to insurers and will cost the federal government an estimated $7 billion this year.
Something had to be done, the Tennessee senators figured, when Humana, the Knoxville area's one remaining ACA insurer, pulled out of the exchange for 2018 and fears that the same thing could happen elsewhere in Tennessee continued to grow.
Why House Republicans, let alone the Trump White House, would take this path is something of a puzzle.
The Health Affairs Blog says the waiver would also not apply to "multi-state plans or to the Basic Health program, 1332 state innovation waivers, [or] the section of the ACA that allows sale of insurance across state lines through interstate compacts". "I think this may even be a conservative estimate", he said. "Can Vermont have a different plan than their neighbor in New Hampshire where you've got a Bernie Sanders on the one hand and a state motto that says "Live free or die" on the other?"
Obamacare's "essential health benefits" provision requires insurers to provide 10 services, including maternity coverage, substance abuse and prescription drugs, in all plans. Provided to low-income customers who buy a silver-level plan, the assistance can reduce deductibles of several thousand dollars to just a couple of hundred.
It remains unclear whether the changes will sway enough members to give leadership the votes needed for the measure to pass. A district court judge agreed previous year, ruling the subsidies were illegal. President Donald Trump has threatened to cut them off as a negotiating chip and Mulvaney won't guarantee that they will continue to flow as the GOP-controlled Congress debates health care.
And White House budget director Mick Mulvaney has suggested the health care payments could be tied to Democratic support for financing the president's wall on the Mexican border.
Government shutdown: Border wall money out, Obamacare fight on
The White House has indicated it doesn't want a government shutdown, as has the GOP leadership in the House and Senate. A partial shutdown would start on Saturday, Trump's 100th day in office.
Meanwhile, Congress is continuing to negotiate another key piece of the ACA: funding for cost-sharing reduction payments.
To compensate, those insurers would have to jack up premiums to cover what they'd spend on helping consumers with deductibles and copayments. Or people could receive tax credits to subsidize premiums in new state-run marketplaces.
The premium increases would be higher in states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Obama health law, the Kaiser study also found.
House Speaker Paul Ryan says the latest Republican effort to scuttle the health care law is winning support, but he stopped short of promising a vote anytime soon.
Democrats and Republicans are bargaining to avoid a government shutdown, The Hill reported, with increased military funding and Obamacare subsidies on the table.
The Trump administration is hoping for Congress to repeal and replace within the president's first 100 days, leaving lawmakers just days to come to an agreement to meet the White House's goal.
Republicans have a new plan to revive their overhaul of the healthcare system, and it may bring the party closer to passing their bill.
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