Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Going Beyond Talking Points On Uninsured: Repeal Will Affect Employer-Sponsored Care, Too
One of the first things Tracy Trovato did — once she overcame the shock of learning her 42-year-old, marathon-training husband had leukemia — was look through their health insurance documents.She dug up one paper that said the plan would pay no more than $1 million for medical services in a lifetime. The Chicago woman and her husband, Carlo, called their insurance company in a panic. (Schencker, 12/19)
When he campaigned for president, Donald Trump made repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act a signature issue. Polling suggests that such a move would have the biggest impacts on communities that gave Mr. Trump some of his highest levels of support, potentially complicating the politics of a repeal effort. More than 20 million Americans now depend on the ACA, also known as Obamacare, for health insurance. Data from Gallup indicate that a lot of those people live in counties that favored Mr. Trump. (Chinni, 12/19)
In other health law news —
People who want to sign up for a policy on healthcare.gov after the annual open enrollment period ends Jan. 31 may have to produce a paper trail proving that they qualify for a “special enrollment period” before their coverage can begin, according to details of a pilot program described last week by federal officials. But the verification measures, long sought by insurance companies, may deter the very consumers the marketplace needs to attract: healthy people who may not bother signing up if doing so is a hassle. (Andrews, 12/20)
Three in 10 Missouri adults could have difficulty purchasing their own health insurance if the Affordable Care Act the next Congress fully repeals the Affordable Care Act. That’s because one of the act’s main provisions requires insurance companies to cover individuals with pre-existing conditions — a definition that once included pregnant women, cancer patients in remission and people with such common medical issues as obesity. (Bouscaren, 12/19)
Warning that nearly 1 million Ohioans could lose health coverage, advocates for the poor and disabled urged Gov. John Kasich to oppose a plan by congressional Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump to repeal Obamacare unless they have a replacement. (Candisky, 12/20)
Peter Lee, who runs what is arguably the most successful Obamacare state exchange, has spent a lot of time thinking about what would happen to California’s insurance market if the health care law is repealed. With Republican lawmakers on the verge of making that happen, Covered California’s executive director says he’s encouraged by their discussions about replacing coverage for the millions who’d lose insurance without Obamacare. Lee says there are lessons that even the incoming Trump administration can learn from California’s Obamacare experience, and he hopes to provide at least some input to Republicans shaping an Obamacare replacement package. (Colliver, 12/19)
