Jost: Administration Encourages States to Use Waivers to Radically Restructure Health Coverage
Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services outlined how states could use Section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in ways that would undermine the law. In a new To the Point post, legal expert Timothy S. Jost discusses the four waiver concepts the administration put forward to restructure health coverage, including allowing states to use federal funds for subsidies to pay for health plans that aren’t ACA-compliant.
Jost reviews the many hurdles states would face in implementing the waivers. These would include building the necessary infrastructure to redirect the subsidies, for example, and staying within 1332 “guardrails” meant to ensure that the same number of residents maintain access to affordable, comprehensive coverage, without adding to the federal deficit.
“The 1332 guidance is the clearest example yet that the Trump administration is determined to repeal and replace the ACA itself on a state-by-state basis without congressional action,” Jost writes. “Any state that takes up its invitation, however, is certain to face not only daunting technical, but also serious legal, challenges.”
Legal hurdles to using waivers to restructure health coverage_1x1 Read the post Jost: Administration Encourages States to Use Waivers to Radically Restructure Health Coverage