The Trump administration released new guidance for states on Thursday that would undermine major tenets of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or so-called Obamacare, President Obama's signature health reform law, according to Governing.com.
Most notably, the new "State Empowerment and Relief Waiver Concepts" urge states to start offering federal subsidies to people buying plans that don’t comply with the ACA. It would be a boost to short-term and association health plans, which offer fewer benefits and consumer protections but at a lower cost.
And there's more:
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is also giving states the option to put subsidies into a “consumer-driven” account that people could use for health-care costs other than monthly premiums. It’s a similar approach that CMS Administrator Seema Verma took in Indiana, where she helped redesign the state's Medicaid program.
States will now also have some freedom to decide who is eligible for subsidies. Under the ACA, anyone with an income 400 percent of the federal poverty line is eligible for subsidies on the insurance marketplace. This new guidance would allow states to tweak or add to that regulation, perhaps prioritizing younger, healthier populations over lower-income residents.
Finally, states will have more flexibility to establish reinsurance programs, which use government funds to protect insurance companies from the most expensive patients and bring down premiums for everyone. Reinsurance has been used in several states since the beginning of the ACA to hold down costs.
More details HERE.
