Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Administration Closes In On 9.1M Sign-Up Goal
The Obama administration is moving closer to its goal of 9.1 million people signed up for private coverage under the president's health care law. The Health and Human Services Department says at least 400,000 people signed up last week. That brought total enrollment in the 37 states served by HealthCare.gov to more than 7.1 million. (1/21)
Federal officials announced Wednesday that Georgia鈥檚 signup total for the insurance exchange reached 425,927 as of Jan. 16. That鈥檚 an increase of more than 25,000 from the week before. The state鈥檚 current enrollment greatly surpasses last year鈥檚 total of 316,543. It also indicates that the final number of Georgia enrollees may be near the half-million mark at the end of the open enrollment period Feb. 15. (Miller, 1/21)
Upset about lofty pay for executives at Colorado's troubled health insurance exchange, Republican lawmakers Wednesday advanced a measure to strip Connect for Health's authority to issue bonuses. The measure won approval by a 3-2 vote along partisan lines in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, one of the early signs of how the chamber's shift to GOP control is making a difference. (Frank, 1/21)
Colorado lawmakers changed course Wednesday and moved toward giving the state's health insurance exchange its deepest review yet. A Senate committee's two Democrats joined its three Republicans to support an expanded audit for Connect For Health Colorado, the state-run marketplace for selling health insurance under the federal health care law. (Wyatt, 1/21)
Meanwhile, Arkansas' 'private-option' Medicaid expansion faces its next litmus test -
Months of behind-the-scenes talks about the Arkansas 鈥減rivate option鈥 Medicaid expansion will burst into the open Thursday morning when Gov. Asa Hutchinson issues his verdict on the program. Virtually no one expects the state鈥檚 expansion to continue unchanged 鈥 or for Hutchinson鈥檚 decision to be the last word. But those who want to keep the program and those who鈥檇 like to see it end both say the new Republican governor will give outsize momentum to the side he chooses. (Wheaton, 1/21)