Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Texas, Louisiana and Kansas Sue Obama Administration Over Health Law Fee
Three states are firing the latest volley in the court battles over ObamaCare with a new lawsuit filed Thursday over the law鈥檚 fee on health insurers. Texas, joined by Kansas and Louisiana, is suing the Obama administration over the alleged 鈥渦nconstitutional Obamacare tax.鈥 At issue is a fee that ObamaCare imposed on health insurers as a way to help pay for the law. (Sullivan, 10/22)
In Texas' latest salvo against Obamacare, Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed suit over a fee states must help cover to pay for the sweeping federal health reform law. Texas joins Louisiana and Kansas in suing the Obama administration over the Health Insurance Providers Fee, which Paxton says cost Texas $86 million in 2013 and about $120 million per year since. Texas feels the effect of the fee, levied on health insurers, because it reimburses the companies that operate with public funds in the state鈥檚 privatized Medicaid program. (Walters, 10/22)
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the Obama administration over an Affordable Care Act fee on health insurers that applies to private insurers under Medicaid 鈥 and thus has become a hit to state budgets. Joining his counterparts in Louisiana and Kansas, Paxton on Wednesday sued Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell and IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to challenge the federal law鈥檚 鈥淗ealth Insurance Providers Fee.鈥 (Garrett, 10/22)