Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
ACA Marketplaces See Drop Among Customers Who Don't Qualify For Federal Subsidies
Health insurance enrollment declined among people who do not qualify for financial help under ObamaCare as premiums rose to make coverage less affordable, new federal data shows.The data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Monday shows that enrollment declined by 1.2 million people, or 24 percent, between 2017 and 2018 among people with incomes too high to qualify for ObamaCare subsidies.(Sullivan, 8/12)
The Obamacare exchanges last year lost 1.2 million of its unsubsidized enrollment last year, the CMS found in a report released Monday. From 2016 to 2018, 2.5 million people who were paying their entire Affordable Care Act premiums dropped out of the individual market. The Trump administration's latest enrollment snapshot doesn't bring many surprises given the high price tag for premiums, but the numbers are stark. The exchanges saw a 40% drop in unsubsidized enrollment from 2016 to 2018, and the declines hit almost every state. (Luthi, 8/12)
Nearly 10.6 million individuals enrolled in Obamacare plans for this year and paid their first monthly bills, according to the latest data from CMS. ... In addition, premiums dropped by less than one percent for 2019, with average monthly bills of $594.17. Thats a stark contrast from 2018, when average premiums skyrocketed by 27 percent. That was largely due to President Donald Trumps decision to stop making cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers to cover out-of-pocket costs for low-income Obamacare customers. (Demko, 8/12)
How this is playing out at the state level -
Just as the Affordable Care Act seems in danger of being struck down in court, its market has stabilized in Georgia. For the first time since the health insurance exchange bottomed out here shedding companies, spiking premium rates and nearly leaving some counties without coverage its on track to add insurers to increase consumers choices. (Hart, 8/12)
Felicia Morrison, a solo lawyer in Stockton, Calif., buys coverage for herself and her twin sons through Covered California, the states Affordable Care Act insurance marketplace. Morrison, 57, gets a federal subsidy to help pay for her coverage and she said that her monthly premium of $167 is manageable. But she spends thousands of dollars a year on deductibles, copayments and care not covered by her plan.I would just like to have health insurance for a change that feels like its worth it and covers your costs, she said. Her chances are looking up after lawmakers in Sacramento acted to enhance Covered California for 2020: They added state-funded tax credits to the federal ones that help people pay for coverage. And they reinstated a requirement for residents to have coverage or pay a penalty an effort to ensure that enough healthy people stay in the insurance pools to offset the financial burden of customers with expensive medical problems. (Findlay, 8/13)
Outlets also report on federal health care costs and Medicare -
The U.S. governments deficit widened to $120 billion in July, fueled by increases in spending on health care and the military, according to data released on Monday by the Treasury Department. ... The fiscal-year-to-date deficit was $867 billion, compared with $684 billion in the comparable year-earlier period. The U.S. governments fiscal position has deteriorated since 2016, hit by an aging of the population that has led to more people drawing on Medicare, a federal health insurance program for the elderly. Increased spending on the military has also fueled the deficit under President Donald Trump, who took office in January 2017 promising to strengthen the military. (Lange, 8/12)
