GOP Health Reform

As third quarter earnings reports rolled out this past week, Molina Inc. reported moves into new states and low premium increases for 2019 and Anthem Inc. welcomed the Trump administration’s new rules regarding health reimbursement arrangements.

A Minnesota-based association health plan will extend its ACA-compliant coverage to residents of Nebraska under a new federal rule that broadened the definition of employers under ERISA and allowed certain AHPs to sell products across state lines.

The legal battle over the federal government's recent rule that broadened the definition of an employer in order to expand access to association health plans moved a step forward this week with the Department of Labor urging the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia to throw out the suit, contending the plaintiffs lack standing.

Health care advocates are prepped and ready for the sixth open enrollment that started Thursday (Nov. 1) in most states, despite the Trump administration's move to slash funding for outreach and education about the coverage.

A coalition of stakeholders is urging CMS to increase its reliance on private health insurance exchanges that can link directly to the federal data hub during the upcoming open enrollment season, recommending in a recent report that the agency shift consumers to those exchanges during the hours that healthcare.gov is down for maintenance and eventually rely entirely on those exchanges.

CMS told states they do not need to defray the costs of new benefits that may be included in a revised essential health benefit (EHB) benchmark plan unless the coverage has been legislatively mandated, and encouraged states to implement revisions that would better address the opioid epidemic.

Federal DC district judge Richard Leon poked several holes in the plaintiffs’ arguments against the expansion of short-term health insurance plans and seemed to agree with the Trump administration’s defense of the plans at a preliminary injunction hearing Friday. A court ruling on whether to block the administration's controversial move to extend the duration of the plans won't come before the end of the year, following the Affordable Care Act's latest open enrollment period, he said. 

HHS Secretary Alex Azar on Friday systematically attacked drug manufacturers’ criticisms of the Trump administration’s plan to implement international price referencing for prescription drugs in Medicare Part B, saying despite strong denunciations, he does not think drug makers will play a “game of chicken” and walk away.

CMS on Friday (Oct. 26) said it has determined that no banking, federal tax or personal health information was exposed during a data breach the agency discovered last week.