- Americans Are Beginning to Lose Healthcare Coverage Los Angeles Times by Michael Hiltzik — Trumpcare, defined as the current administration's effort to undo every achievement of the Affordable Care Act, is going from strength to strength. The latest readings of its accomplishments come from the Commonwealth Fund, a healthcare advocacy think tank, and Tom Price, who was drummed out of his job as Trump's first secretary of Health and Human Services over his predilection for luxury charter flights when commercial flights would do just as well. The Commonwealth Fund reported Tuesday that the administration's concerted attack on the ACA has driven the uninsured rate among working-age people (those aged 19 to 64) to 15.5 percent, up from 12.7 percent in 2016. That translates into lost coverage for 4 million Americans.
- Former HHS Secretary Price: it Was Mistake to Zero Out Coverage Penalty Modern Healthcare by Virgil Dickson — Former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Dr. Tom Price, who long pushed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, said Tuesday that Republican lawmakers made a mistake by zeroing out the penalty for not complying with the individual mandate. "There are many — I am one of them — that actually believe that will harm the [risk] pool in the exchange market," Price said in a speech at the World Health Care Congress. "Younger and healthier people may now not participate in that market and consequently that drives up the costs for other folks." President Donald Trump in December signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which zeroed out the penalty for not having insurance starting Jan 1, 2019. Price's comment appears to be an about-face from his stance while leading HHS. During an interview on ABC's "This Week" last summer, he slammed the ACA and particularly the individual mandate. "The individual mandate is one of those things that is actually driving up the cost for the American people in terms of coverage," Price said.
- On Anniversary of House Obamacare Repeal, Democrats Look to Extract a Price New York Times by Thomas Kaplan — House passage of the Obamacare repeal bill left that chamber's Republicans in a no-win situation. They took the hard vote, but because the Senate failed to follow suit, no one can claim a victory. Now Democrats hope to extract a price. Far from the liability that the Affordable Care Act has been in past elections, Democrats believe health care will be a key advantage heading into this fall's midterm elections. Though President Barack Obama's signature domestic achievement has endured, Democrats accuse the Trump administration and congressional Republicans of sabotaging the health law's insurance marketplaces through actions such as ending the requirement that most people have coverage or pay a penalty. And in the weeks before this fall's elections, consumers are expected to learn of another wave of premium increases.