Insurance Sales Across State Lines

Trump plans executive order allowing health insurers to sell across state lines

President Donald Trump said he plans to issue an executive order possibly next week that would allow Americans to buy health insurance across state lines, a move that Republicans have said could cut costs and boost competition in the insurance market. Trump said he also plans to work with Democrats on a bipartisan health care bill in the next few months.

The Hill (9/27),  The Examiner (Washington, D.C.) (9/27)

GOP -Another Try at Repeal


Two GOP Senators Give Obamacare Repeal One More Try
Two Republican senators are launching yet another attempt at repealing Obamacare, preparing to offer legislation that would try to bridge one of the key dividing elements of an effort that has twice failed to pass the senate, according to a section-by-section analysis obtained by NBC News.
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Extension of Obamacare

California, Other States To Extend Obamacare Sign-Up Beyond Federal Limit
California and several other states will exempt themselves this year from a new Trump administration rule that cuts in half the amount of time consumers have to buy individual health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
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Push to Expand Medicare Benefits

Legislation to cover dental, vision and hearing care under Medicare is being floated by Democratic members of Congress. Dan Adcock of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare said adding benefits would be expensive but would ultimately save the government money by reducing serious health problems associated with a lack of these types of care.

Hope to stabilize Health Care

Senate health panel aims to pass stabilization bill this month
Alexander (Zach Gibson/Getty Images)
Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., says he’ll spend the next three weeks developing and attempting to pass a bipartisan bill that would provide one year of funding for cost-sharing reduction subsidies and increase flexibility on key Affordable Care Act requirements through changes to the state waiver program. Hearings begin this week, when the panel will hear from governors and state insurance officials.

Politico (9/1),  The Hill (9/5)

WHAT HAPPENS IF THE INDIVIDUAL MANDATE IS REPEALED

“Repeal and Replace”

Ultimately, whether the individual mandate and the associated penalty remains intact or goes away depends on what Republicans in the Senate decide to do. The American Health Care Act, which passed the House of Representatives in early May, would not eliminate the individual mandate but rather would reduce the penalty to $0 effective immediately.

The mandate would eventually be replaced by a “continuous coverage incentive” that would provide for a 30% surcharge for late enrollees in the individual market. Basically, anyone with a coverage gap of 63 days or more in the previous 12 months would pay 30% more for the next 12 months, giving individuals an incentive to purchase and maintain health insurance.

The Senate is still working on its version of the bill, and while there were multiple reports that they were going to start over from scratch, we really don’t know what the bill will look like since it’s being crafted in private, hidden from the public and even from Democratic lawmakers. As the New York Times puts it, “they are coming up with the legislation behind closed doors without holding hearings, without consulting lawmakers who disagree with them and without engaging in any meaningful public debate.”

Whatever emerges out of the Senate, we still don’t know what, if anything, will end up happening. In the end, the House and Senate must agree and vote on a single version of the bill to send to the President’s desk, and right now there’s still a lot of disagreement. Top that with the fact that President Trump is now saying that the House version of the bill is “mean,” and we really don’t know what to expect.

The OIG Looks at Drug Pricing

HHS inspector general to examine drug price issues

The HHS Office of Inspector General plans to examine a variety of issues related to drug prices and potential waste of medicines. Among the issues the OIG will address are unexplained price jumps, use of wasteful single vials for cancer treatments, tying rebates under Medicare Part D to inflation, and billing practices for compounded topical treatments.

STAT (11/10)