Healthcare
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Health Care
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Millions dropped ACA plans after subsidies ended |
About four million Americans have dropped out of Affordable Care Act insurance coverage this year as costs soared due to the loss of enhanced subsidies.
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© Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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The figures released late Friday from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services offer the most complete look to date at what happened to enrollment after Republicans in Congress failed to extend enhanced ACA subsidies at the end of last year. The figures capture the marketplace after a three-month nonpayment grace period expired.
According to the report, an estimated 19.2 million people are enrolled in ACA plans as of February.
That’s a drop of more than 16 percent from the 23 million people who signed up for coverage at the end of open enrollment.
The Department of Health and Human Services suggested that drop in enrollment could be attributed to a federal crackdown on fraudulent or “phantom” enrollment.
But health analysts point to costs. The loss of enhanced subsidies spiked many people’s premiums by double digits; the new coverage numbers likely reflect the sticker shock Americans experienced.
“This coverage loss happened at the same time millions of people faced double or even triple digit increases in their premium payments,” said Cynthia Cox, a vice president and director of the ACA program at KFF.
Insurers and health policy experts have been warning that a steep enrollment drop was imminent once people’s first premium bills came due.
This is the first time ACA marketplace enrollment has dropped since the first Trump administration, and it comes on the heels of several consecutive years of rapid growth and record high enrollment.
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Welcome to The Hill’s Healthcare newsletter, we’re Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.
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How policy will be impacting the healthcare sector this week and beyond:
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A coalition of 25 states and the District of Columbia is suing the Trump administration over a new rule implementing Medicaid work requirement exemptions for medically frail people. According to the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in federal district court in Massachusetts, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) violated congressional protections when it issued an interim final rule concerning who is eligible …
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The nation’s top pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) lobbying group is going on the offensive, stepping up its advocacy efforts against the pharmaceutical industry after Congress passed a PBM industry overhaul last winter. The pharmaceutical industry spent years pointing fingers at pharmacy benefit managers as the reason for high drug costs, and Congress finally was able to get PBM reforms over the finish line as part of a …
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Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) in a Sunday interview sought to explain his controversial vote to confirm Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as he said Kennedy is dug in on his views toward vaccinations despite public opinion. Cassidy, the first physician to serve as the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the …
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Branch out with a different read from The Hill:
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Judge blocks Tennessee from reporting sick children to immigration authorities, for now
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A judge temporarily ordered the Tennessee Department of Health not to give immigration authorities information about roughly 400 seriously sick and disabled immigrant children who are enrolled in a healthcare assistance program. The restraining order was issued Wednesday at the request of three Nashville doctors …
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Local and state headlines on healthcare:
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- Florida hospitals act fast to discharge gun victims — especially if they’re not insured (KFF Health News)
- NM U.S. Rep. Vasquez, a Democrat, urges state Health Care Authority to bring down SNAP error rate (Source New Mexico)
- Martin County residents keep pressing state officials for funding to reopen hospital (North Carolina Health News)
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Health news we’ve flagged from other outlets:
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- The ERs that can turn patients away — and are reaping millions (Stat)
- This rare tick-borne disease is on the rise in the U.S. (The Washington Post)
- FDA panel on peptides will include experts who promote the unproven chemicals (MedPage Today)
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Opinions related to health submitted to The Hill:
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