- Trump Proposal Could Mean Healthy People Save on Insurance While Others Get Priced Out Washington Post by Carolyn Y. Johnson —The Trump administration's proposal to build up short-term health insurance plans as a "lifeline" for people who can't afford Affordable Care Act coverage could split the insurance market in two, siphoning young, healthy people into cheaper, more minimal plans — while those who remain in ACA plans face premiums that spiral upward even faster. The comment period ends Monday on a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposal to extend short-term plans to 364 days, from the current three-month limit. The effects of that policy change, combined with zeroing out the individual mandate's financial penalty in 2019 will be harmful to the most vulnerable patients, according to more than 100 patient groups and many health policy wonks. Supporters of the policy say those fears are overblown, and argue that the expanded plans offer needed options for people who are uninsured.
- The True Cost of Cheap Health Insurance The Atlantic by Vann R. Newkirk II —The rap on short-term plans is that they are often "junk" plans that collect premiums from people who feel they need to have insurance, but might not understand their terms….The tricky thing about many short-term plans, relative to other offerings, is they may not even be that useful for young-and-invincible types. While it's difficult to assess their average value, since they are unregulated and diverse, the cheapest short-term plans appear to do little but avert only the most extreme—and unlikely—cost.
- CMS Extension of Transitional Health Plans Could Ding ACA Market Modern Healthcare by Harris Meyer — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has once again allowed insurers and states to renew so-called transitional health plans that pre-dated Affordable Care Act coverage requirements and that don't have to comply with those rules. State officials have the option to end these "grandmothered" plans in the individual and small-group markets. But about three dozen states have allowed them to continue, even though experts say moving transitional plan enrollees into the ACA-regulated market likely would bring down premiums. Earlier this month, the CMS issued a bulletin extending these "grandmothered" plans for current members of the plans for one year, with all such policies ending Dec. 31, 2019. This is the fourth such extension.
- 20 States Seek to Block Obama's Health Care Law Associated Press —Twenty Republican-led states are seeking to temporarily invalidate former President Barack Obama's health care law while their larger lawsuit against it proceeds. In a February suit, Texas and Wisconsin led a coalition arguing that the Affordable Care Act is no longer constitutional after the Republican-backed tax overhaul eliminated fines for not having health care coverage. Sixteen states with Democratic governors later sought to intervene. They suggested that Democratic attorneys general will have to defend the law because President Donald Trump's administration won't. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Thursday that a motion seeking a preliminary injunction was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Paxton argues that it's "necessary to spare the people of Texas and the other states from the enormous financial burden" of the individual mandate.