Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Insurers Escape Paying Penalties That Should Have Been Levied By IRS, Report Finds
The Internal Revenue Service may have allowed scores of insurers to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes and penalties under a provision of the Affordable Care Act, according to a new report by a Treasury Department inspector general. (Pianin, 9/25)
The White House has said it will focus this year鈥檚 enrollment push on the remaining uninsured. So it鈥檚 worth taking a closer look at who those people were. Most of them 鈥 about 56 percent 鈥 fell into three major groups that were widely expected to have high uninsurance rates: immigrants, young adults and people in the so-called Medicaid gap. But that still left more than 14 million Americans who don鈥檛 have insurance and don鈥檛 fall into any of these categories. ... Without immigrants and people in the Medicaid gap, the total number of uninsured is about 22 million people, more than a third of whom are young adults ages 19 to 34. (Barry-Jester and Casselman, 9/28)
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings says he believes affordable health care for all Americans is an achievable goal, and cites President Obama鈥檚 signature law as a good start. Addressing an audience of hundreds of people Saturday at the Chase Brexton Charm Ball, the longtime Maryland Democrat said the 鈥渇irst step was the Affordable Care Act. We must be clear to not mistake a comma for a period.鈥 (Althoff, 9/27)
A House-Senate committee is scheduled to meet Monday to discuss how and whether to move forward with the Alaska Legislature鈥檚 lawsuit to stop Gov. Bill Walker from unilaterally expanding the Medicaid health care program. ... The original committee vote authorizing the Legislature鈥檚 lawsuit was 10 to 1, with all the members of the Republican-led House and Senate majorities in favor. But at least one Republican member of the Legislative Council, Anchorage Rep. Mike Hawker, says he hopes to steer his colleagues away from the lawsuit at Monday鈥檚 meeting. (Herz, 9/27)
Thousands of Minnesotans who buy health insurance on their own are bracing for final word on whether their premiums will spike next year. On Thursday, the Minnesota Department of Commerce is scheduled to release 2016 rates for shoppers who buy individual policies. (Snowbeck, 9/28)
