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Larry Levitt @larry_levitt
, 5 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
The Trump administration has taken a variety of steps to undermine the ACA. But, it has been quite open to state ACA waivers for reinsurance programs to bring down premiums for unsubsidized individual market enrollees, as with New Jersey today.
cms.gov/CCIIO/Programs…
One of former HHS Secretary Tom Price's early official acts was a letter to governors in March 2017 to invite ACA waivers for reinsurance programs.
cms.gov/CCIIO/Programs…
Think of publicly-funded reinsurance like insurance for insurers. It covers part of the expense of high-cost patients, reducing costs for insurers and allowing them to lower premiums. It doesn't help ACA enrollees receiving premium subsidies, but does help unsubsidized enrollees.
Here's a map (update just moments ago for New Jersey) showing which states have ACA waivers for reinsurance programs.
kff.org/health-reform/…
Note that reinsurance -- which was in place for the first three years of the ACA -- functions a lot like an "invisible high-risk pool," which some Republicans have championed.
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A Texas judge has ruled the entire ACA unconstitutional. If upheld, this would throw out not only the law’s pre-existing condition protections, but also everything else — premium subsidies, expanded Medicaid, preventive services, and much more.
Republic state attorneys general argued that since the individual mandate has been repealed, the mandate itself is now unconstitutional because there is no tax associated with it. And they say the rest of the law cannot be separated from the mandate.
The Trump administration has agreed with the Republican state attorneys general that the individual mandate is unconstitutional. But they have argued that the whole law shouldn’t be thrown out, just its pre-existing condition protections.
Read 10 tweets
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As the midterm election approaches, protecting people with pre-existing has emerged as major political issue. Here is how various proposals considered in recent years by Congress would have affected the ACA’s protections.
The House has voted on several occasions since the ACA passed to repeal the entire law, including its pre-existing condition protections.
The House passed the AHCA repeal and replace bill in 2017, which would have allowed states to waive the ACA’s benefit requirements and let insurers charge higher premiums to people with pre-existing conditions with a gap in coverage.
Read 9 tweets
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ACA premiums are stable for 2019 because they went up so much this year due to an uncertain environment and regulatory actions by the Trump administration. Premiums would be going down a lot if not for repeal of the individual mandate penalty and expansion of short-term plans.
Here's some important context for the Trump administration's announcement that ACA benchmark premiums will drop next year. Insurers in the exchange are quite profitable right now because they overshot so much in their premium increases for this year.
kff.org/private-insura…
Ironically, one of the most stabilizing actions the Trump administration has taken was cutting of cost-sharing subsidy payments to insurers. That led to an increase in ACA benchmark premiums this year, which in turn led to higher premium subsidies and more stable enrollment.
Read 4 tweets

Related threads

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Trump admin releases 4 "concepts" for states to consider under the #ACA 1332 waiver program. cms.gov/newsroom/press… @GtownCHIR So what are the 4 concepts?
'Course, they don't mention fact that 1332 guidance released earlier this month is probably in violation of APA (state proposals that take advantage of looser guardrails likely face legal challenge) brookings.edu/blog/usc-brook…
(1) state could re-direct ACA subsidies to personal accounts, from which consumers could draw $ for premiums, cost-sharing.
Read 9 tweets
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THREAD: This morning, Trump's CMS Administrator, Seema Verma, posted a press release claiming that Trump Admin actions have "caused rates to drop for the first time." This is...stretching things, to put it mildly. 1/

acasignups.net/18/10/11/sigh-…
2/ FIRST, the "1.5% drop" @SeemaCMS refers to only applies to on-exchange plans, only includes 39 states, and only applies to the benchmark plans. When you include all 50 states, all plans at all metal levels and off-exchange enrollees, it's +3.1%.

acasignups.net/rate-hikes/2019
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Read 25 tweets
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Under The Affordable Care Act, Health insurers can NOT charge more or deny coverage to you or your dependents on your insurance b/c of #PreExistingConditions of ANY kind.

Here are the 20 @GOP state AGs & Governors trying to nullify the #ACA

What YOU need to know!

(THREAD) 1/15
Feb.18: 20 States, led by TX, sued, claiming #ACA was illegal:

AL
AR
AZ
FL
GA
IN
KS
LA
ME (Gov. Paul LePage)
MS (Gov. Phil Bryant)
MI
NE
ND
SC
SD
TN
TX
UT
WI
WV

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Read 15 tweets
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NSA and Cyber Command to coordinate actions to counter Russian election interference in 2018 amid absence of White House guidance wapo.st/2zOfy5g?tid=ss…
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On the 8th Anniversary of #ACA it's crucial to demonstrate how our President has undermined healthcare for MILLIONS via #ACASabotage since his inauguration.

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Read 30 tweets
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Trump Hotels' website still lists Trump SoHo New York among its properties in the Our Hotels menu. Select its name though to access its page and there's a message about it being renamed

bit.ly/2EPCSy1
National politics correspondent for Newsweek, Nina Burleigh, with a fun find on a TV above the bar at the Trump Hotel DC bit.ly/2E37QRR
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bit.ly/2CpL7z2
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