HEALTH/BENEFITSWIRES
ACA Repeal Is Dead After last year’s failed effort to repeal the Affordable
Care Act (ACA), Republicans in both houses of Congress appear to be throwing in the towel on making another repeal effort in 2018. At a Republican congressional retreat in February, GOP leaders in both the House and Senate indicated the votes to get rid of the health care bill just aren’t there. With an ACA repeal unlikely this year, Congress is turning its sights to stabilizing the marketplace. Top House Republicans are said to be interested in funding reinsurance. The money could be included in a bipartisan government funding deal or in another legislative vehicle. Rep. Ryan Costello, R-Pa., is sponsoring a bill to provide ACA stability funding in 2019 and 2020. Another attempt to stabilize the ACA marketplace is the Alexander-Murray Bill. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., would fund cost-sharing reductions to insurers for giving discounts to low-income enrollees. Whether the project will expand beyond the three companies that are creating it is unknown.
IDAHO WANTS TO DITCH ACA RULES 3 COMPANIES LOOK AT DISRUPTING HEALTH INSURANCE
What do Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase have in common? In a word, “disruption” — particularly in employee health care. Leaders of these three corporations announced they will team up to create a company that will help their workers find health care at what they call “a reasonable cost.” Details of the plan are vague at this point, but the corporate bigwigs behind it say the new venture will be independent and “free from profit-making incentives and constraints,” and its initial focus will be on technology. DID YOU
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Idaho is blazing a trail away from ACA compliance. The Gem State is believed to be the first state to be making plans to allow insurance companies to sell cheap policies that ditch key provisions of the ACA. Idaho Department of Insurance Director Dean Cameron said the move is necessary to make cheaper plans available to more people. It’s a step that he said would keep the state’s individual health
QUOTABLE
The ballooning costs of [health care] act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy. — Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway CEO
insurance marketplace from collapsing as healthy residents choose to go uninsured rather than pay for expensive plans that comply with the federal law. The plan would make it possible for insurance companies to offer cheaper plans that might be more attractive to people who have to buy their own insurance and do not benefit from the ACA subsidies. The catch is that those plans might not cover pre-existing conditions, cap out-of-pocket expenses or comply with the ACA’s 10 essential benefits.
MUTUAL OF OMAHA ENTERS MEDICARE ADVANTAGE MARKET
Mutual of Omaha is teaming up with Lumeris to enter the Medicare Advantage market. Lumeris is the operator of one of the country’s largest health plans founded by physicians. Beginning in 2019, Mutual and Lumeris plan to offer a Medicare Advantage plan with prescription drug coverage in select markets. The two companies are entering an area poised for growth. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, one in three people with Medicare is currently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, and by 2027 that number is expected to climb to 41 percent.
Asthma costs the U.S. economy $80 billion annually. Source: : American Thoracic Society
InsuranceNewsNet Magazine » March 2018