That’s the title of a new book by Lisa Manheim and Kathryn Watts. From the press release: The book emerged from a class Watts and a colleague put together — at the request of students — within weeks of Trump’s election. The feedback they received, along with news coverage of the class, helped to confirm […]
A few months back, I flagged an opinion from a D.C. district court holding that a new EEOC rule governing wellness programs was arbitrary and capricious. The rule allowed employers to impose huge penalties on employees who refused to participate in wellness programs, even though the Americans with Disabilities Act says those programs must be […]
Murray-Alexander is going nowhere. Senator Collins insists that passing the bipartisan legislation, which would restore cost-sharing payments for two years, is a condition of her vote on the pending tax bill. But she appears willing to accept airy promises that Senate leadership will make the bill a priority. Never mind that House Republicans have no […]
On Friday afternoon, a district court in Pennsylvania enjoined the Trump administration’s new rules on contraception coverage from taking effect. The court’s ruling was not unexpected: I’d argued earlier that the rules were vulnerable on both procedural and substantive grounds, and the court’s analysis largely tracks my own. Procedurally, the Trump administration had no good […]
That’s the headline of my latest piece at Vox. Adopting mandates at the state level would help stabilize insurance markets, thereby keeping premiums in check and forestalling coverage losses. It would also provide a welcome source of revenue: Some people will still prefer to pay a penalty than buy insurance. Plus, the states don’t need […]
“Republicans want to pay for a permanent corporate tax by taking insurance from millions of people. Is that who we are as a nation?” That’s the end of my latest op-ed in the Washington Post. Here’s the beginning. To finesse the tricky politics and brutal math of tax reform, Senate Republicans now say that they want to […]
On Friday, HHS released a proposed rule that would make a number of adjustments to the rules governing insurance exchanges for 2019. The rule is long and detailed; there’s a lot to digest. Among the most noteworthy changes, however, are those relating to the essential health benefits. They’re significant, and I’m not convinced they’re legal. […]
Yesterday, a group of 19 states asked a California district court to stop the Trump administration from cutting off the cost-sharing payments. To prevail, the states will have to convince the court that they face irreparable injury if the payments are terminated and that they’ve got a substantial likelihood of eventually winning their lawsuit. To […]
In broad strokes, the bipartisan deal from Senators Alexander and Murray would restore cost-sharing payments through 2019 in exchange for some amendments to the rules governing ACA waivers. Now that we have the bill text, we can start to wrap our hands around the practical effects of those waiver changes. Most importantly, the bill would […]
That’s the headline for an op-ed of mine that ran this weekend in the Los Angeles Times. Back in 2013, the Obama administration asked Congress to appropriate the money for the cost-sharing payments. The Republican-controlled Congress refused. Concerned for the fate of its healthcare bill, the Obama administration then adopted a dubious legal theory that allowed […]
Politico just broke the news that the Trump administration will terminate the Affordable Care Act’s cost-sharing payments, further destabilizing the already-fragile exchanges on the eve of open enrollment. Although state regulators and insurers have taken steps to protect themselves (see this great explainer from David Anderson, Charles Gaba, Louise Norris, and Andrew Sprung), the abrupt […]
This morning, HHS released two rules that will allow many more employers to exclude contraception from the insurance plans they offer to their employees. The first expands an existing religious exemption; the second allows employers to exempt themselves by invoking a freestanding “moral objection.” As I explained when a draft of the rules first leaked, […]
The following is an op-ed that I was shopping around for publication prior to the demise of Graham-Cassidy. It’s obviously less urgent now, but I wanted to put it out there as a time-capsule in case the bill is revived. The op-ed relates to the penultimate version of the bill, not the one that finally […]
The revised bill was leaked last night and will apparently be unveiled today. The reporting has suggested that it’s worse than before. Not only is Graham-Cassidy now full of bribes and giveaways to lure hesitant senators, but it also makes it much easier for states to avoid the application of the ACA’s insurance regulations. That’s […]
Iowa has submitted a waiver proposal under section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act that, if granted, would radically reshape its individual insurance market; Oklahoma may soon do the same. Both states have been accused of relying on some magical numbers, and Iowa’s waiver appears to violate the ACA’s guardrails, which require states to assure […]