Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Federal Officials Warn Medicaid Enrollees To Drop Subsidized Marketplace Coverage
The Obama administration is moving to end duplicate coverage for tens of thousands of people who are enrolled in Medicaid and simultaneously receiving federal subsidies to help pay for private health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. ... The action ... comes more than nine months after congressional investigators from the Government Accountability Office said they had discovered the potential for duplicate coverage, with double payment. The potential is significant because low-income people can switch back and forth between Medicaid and subsidized private coverage as their circumstances change. (Pear, 8/21)
Some small companies that dropped group health insurance for their employees are reversing course, driven by a tightening labor market and rising costs and fewer choices for individual coverage. Laura Cottrell, owner of a seven-person home-furnishings and home-improvement products business in St. Louis, dropped group coverage in 2014, not only because of the cost but also the complexities of picking the right plan within a short deadline. Instead, she gave her employees a raise that they could use to buy their own health plans, sparing her from choosing for them. (Simon, 8/21)
When Obamacare was developed, one goal was to allow middle-class Americans to use the new marketplaces to buy the same kind of health insurance they had at their jobs. People could retire early, or quit a corporate job and become a freelancer, and still have the great care and financial protection that come with high-end plans. But six years into the health law, the reality is that a typical Obamacare plan looks more like Medicaid, only with a high deductible. (Sanger-Katz, 8/21)
The tanning salon industry is feeling burned by "Obamacare." Business owners around the country say the little-noticed 10 percent tax on tanning in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul has crippled the industry, forcing the closing of nearly 10,000 of the more than 18,000 tanning salons in the U.S. Experts say the industry is overstating the effects of the "tan tax" and that it has been hurt by other factors, too, including public health warnings about the dangers of tanning and the passage of laws in dozens of states restricting the use of tanning salons by minors. (Kennedy, 8/20)
