GOP Health Reform

According to preliminary final tallies of the 2019 Affordable Care Act open enrollment period, 8.5 million people enrolled in federal exchange plans for 2019 compared to 8.8 people at this same time last year.

The high-profile case in Texas over the future of the Affordable Care Act continues to move at a fast clip with U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor agreeing Tuesday (Dec. 18) to consider Democratic attorneys general request that he formally clarify or stay his initial ruling in which he stated that the entire ACA is unconstitutional, and he asked the plaintiffs and Department of Justice to weigh in by Dec. 21.

Texas federal district Judge Reed O’Connor’s initial ruling that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional may be one of the most extreme cases of judicial activism in recent memory, experts across the political spectrum say in their initial analyses of the Friday (Dec. 14) decision that sent shock waves through the health care sector.

HHS stressed Monday (Dec. 17) that the administration will continue to enforce the Affordable Care Act in the face of a Texas federal district judge’s ruling late Friday that the ACA is unconstitutional, noting that the ruling is neither an injunction nor a final judgment.

The Congressional Budget Office once again included dozens of health-related policies in its list of deficit reduction concepts that could be used for offsets over the 10-year budget period, and one of the largest revenue raisers would be to repeal the forthcoming 40 percent tax on high-cost employer plans -- or the “Cadillac” tax -- and instead limit the open ended tax exclusion for employer-sponsored insurance (ESI).

Doctors, hospitals, insurers and others across the health care industry are urging the Department of Homeland Security to withdraw its proposed rule that would make it more difficult for legal immigrants who receive Medicaid and other public benefits to become permanent residents.

The HHS Office of Civil Rights is asking for feedback on how to change the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act to remove obstacles to efficient care coordination while also protecting patients’ health information, as well as how to encourage providers to share information for treatment and care coordination, making it easier to share information with parents and caregivers and dealing with the opioid crisis.

Another web-based health insurance broker has been approved by CMS to utilize the new enhanced direct enrollment that allows consumers to enroll in coverage without having to first visit healthcare.gov.

Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) called on think tank leaders to help craft legislation to lower health care costs, saying the federal government will not be able to cut health insurance costs until it can lower the overarching costs of healthcare.