Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Colorado Voters Will Consider Ballot Measure To Set Up Public Health Care For All
For years, voters in this swing state have rejected tax increases and efforts to expand government. But now they are flirting with a radical transformation: whether to abandon President Obama鈥檚 health care policy and instead create a new, taxpayer-financed public health system that guarantees coverage for everyone. The estimated $38-billion-a-year proposal, which will go before Colorado voters in November, will test whether people have an appetite for a new system that goes further than the Affordable Care Act. That question is also in play in the Democratic presidential primaries. (Healy, 4/28)
Obamacare came close to reaching a milestone mark of sorts last July: Public approval of the health care reform law as measured by the Pew Research Center nearly matched public disapproval. Since then, though, approval of the law has taken another tumble while disapproval has surged. (Dent, 4/28)
When UnitedHealth (UNH), the nation's largest health insurer, announced earlier this month that it would exit the Affordable Care Act exchange business in all but three states, the obvious question was, who's next? ... For now, at least, the UnitedHealth announcement has not set off a succession of me-too moves. (Konrad, 4/28)
In the small universe that is health insurance, 2017 may turn out to be pretty nice for the men and women who predict how much insurers have to pay out in claims. ... [John Bertko, chief actuary for Covered California] says after three years actuaries finally have the information to more accurately forecast what they need to make a profit. Better data is just one signal that premiums on the Obamacare exchanges will likely go up more than this year. More sick people than expected and exploding drug prices are two other important signs. (Gorenstein, 4/28)
Aetna Inc. said more customers opted for its Obamacare plans in the first quarter than it had expected, but added that the program needed to be more flexible to become sustainable. (Penumudi, 4/28)
Aetna's first-quarter earnings slid nearly 7 percent as enrollment dipped, but the nation's third-largest health insurer topped Wall Street expectations and hiked its 2016 profit forecast. The Hartford, Connecticut, company also said Thursday that it remains on track to close its roughly $35 billion acquisition of Medicare Advantage coverage provider Humana Inc. in the second half of the year. Aetna booked $65.4 million in pretax costs in the first quarter from that pending acquisition and other deals. (Murphy, 4/28)
