Tag Archives: Obamacare

U.S. states sue to block Trump Obamacare subsidies cut

U.S. President Donald Trump smiles after signing an Executive Order to make it easier for Americans to buy bare-bone health insurance plans and circumvent Obamacare rules at the White House in Washington, U.S., October 12, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

By Yasmeen Abutaleb and Dan Levine

WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Eighteen U.S. states sued President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday to stop him from scrapping a key component of Obamacare, subsidies to insurers that help millions of low-income people pay medical expenses, even as Trump invited Democratic leaders to negotiate a deal.

One day after his administration announced plans to end the payments next week, Trump said he would dismantle Obamacare “step by step.”

His latest action raised concerns about chaos in insurance markets. The subsidies cost $7 billion this year and were estimated at $10 billion for 2018, according to congressional analysts.

“As far as the subsidies are concerned, I don’t want to make the insurance companies rich,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “They’re making a fortune by getting that kind of money.”

Trump’s action took aim at a critical element of the 2010 law, his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement. Frustrated by the failure of his fellow Republicans who control both houses of Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare, Trump has taken several steps to chip away at it.

Democrats accused Trump of sabotaging the law.

Democratic attorneys general from the 18 states as well as Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit in federal court in California later on Friday. The states include: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington state.

The states will ask the court to force Trump to make the next payment. Legal experts said the states were likely to face an uphill battle in court.

“His effort to gut these subsidies with no warning or even a plan to contain the fallout is breathtakingly reckless,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said. “This is an effort simply to blow up the system.”

The new lawsuit would be separate from a case pending before an appeals court in the District of Columbia in which 16 Democratic state attorneys general are defending the legality of the payments.

If the subsidies vanish, low-income Americans who obtain insurance through Obamacare online marketplaces where insurers can sell policies would face higher insurance premiums and out-of-pocket medical costs. It would particularly hurt lower-middle-class families whose incomes are still too high to qualify for certain government assistance.

About 10 million people are enrolled in Obamacare through its online marketplaces, and most receive subsidies. Trump’s action came just weeks before the period starting on Nov. 1 when individuals have to begin enrolling for 2018 insurance coverage through the law’s marketplaces.

The administration will not make the next payment to insurers, scheduled for Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer expressed optimism about chances for a deal with Republicans to continue the subsidy payments.

“We’re going to have a very good opportunity to get this done in a bipartisan way” during negotiations in December on broad federal spending legislation, “if we can’t get it done sooner,” Schumer told reporters.

Trump offered an invitation for Democratic leaders to come to the White House, while also lashing out at them. “We’ll negotiate some deal that’s good for everybody. But they’re always a bloc vote against everything. They’re like obstructionists,” Trump told reporters.

The Senate failed in both July and September to pass legislation backed by Trump to repeal Obamacare due to opposition by a handful of Republican senators. One of them, Susan Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine who had been contemplating running for governor next year, on Friday said she planned to remain in the Senate and would use her voice in reforming the healthcare system.

SHARES OF INSURERS, HOSPITALS FALL

Hospitals, doctors, health insurers, state insurance commissioners and patient advocates decried Trump’s move, saying consumers will ultimately pay the price. They called on Congress to appropriate the funds needed to keep up the subsidy payments.

Shares of U.S. hospital companies and health insurers closed down on Friday after the subsidies announcement. Centene Corp <CNC.N> closed down 3.3 percent and Molina Healthcare <MOH.N> closed down 3.4 percent. Among hospital shares, Tenet Healthcare <THC.N> finished 5.1 percent lower and Community Health Systems <CYH.N> declined 4.0 percent.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that erasing the subsidies would increase the federal deficit by $194 billion over the next decade because the government still would be obligated under other parts of Obamacare to help lower-income people pay for insurance premiums.

Trump, who as a candidate last year promised to roll back the law formally called the Affordable Care Act, received applause for his latest action during an appearance on Friday before a group of conservative voters.

“It’s step by step by step, and that was a very big step yesterday,” Trump said. “And one by one, it’s going to come down, and we’re going to have great healthcare in our country.”

Earlier on Twitter he called Obamacare “a broken mess” that is “imploding,” and referred to the “pet insurance companies” of Democrats.

Republicans for seven years had vowed to get rid of Obamacare, but deep intra-party divisions have scuttled their efforts to get legislation through the Senate, where they hold a slim majority.

Since taking office in January, Trump threatened many times to cut the subsidies. Health insurers that planned to stay in the Obamacare market prepared for the move in many states by submitting two sets of premium rates to regulators: with and without the subsidies.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners said the change would drive up premium costs for consumers by at least 12 to 15 percent in 2018 and cut more than $1 billion in payments to insurers for 2017.

The White House announced the cut-off just hours after Trump signed an order intended to allow insurers to sell lower-cost, bare-bones policies with limited benefits and consumer protections.

Republicans have called Obamacare an unnecessary government intrusion into the American healthcare system. Democrats have said the law needs some fixes but noted that it had brought insurance to 20 million people.

(Additional reporting by Lawrence Hurley, Justin Mitchell, Steve Holland, Makini Brice, Jeff Mason and Susan Heavey in Washington, Megan Davies in New York, Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee, and Divya Grover in Bengaluru; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Leslie Adler)

Trump scraps key Obamacare subsidies, urges Democrats to fix ‘broken mess’

Trump scraps key Obamacare subsidies, urges Democrats to fix 'broken mess'

By Yasmeen Abutaleb and Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday urged Democrats to make a healthcare deal after cutting off Obamacare subsidies to health insurance companies for low-income patients in a forceful move that sparked threats of legal action and concern of chaos in insurance markets.

“ObamaCare is a broken mess,” Trump tweeted early on Friday. “Piece by piece we will now begin the process of giving America the great HealthCare it deserves!”

The decision is the most dramatic action Trump has taken yet to weaken the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, which extended insurance to 20 million Americans.

The move drew swift condemnation from Democrats and threats from state attorneys general in New York and California to file lawsuits. Trump, a Republican, urged opponents to reach out to him.

“The Democrats ObamaCare is imploding. Massive subsidy payments to their pet insurance companies has stopped. Dems should call me to fix!” Trump said in another tweet on Friday.

Trump has been frustrated by Republicans’ failure to repeal and replace the law known as Obamacare, thwarting a promise he made during his successful 2016 presidential campaign.

His decision is likely to please those among his political base who detest the Obamacare system, which many Republicans have attacked for years as an unneeded government intrusion in Americans’ healthcare.

In a nod to that same constituency, the president signed an executive order earlier on Thursday to make it easier for Americans to buy bare-bones health insurance plans exempt from Obamacare requirements.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi derided the subsidies cut-off in a joint statement, saying Trump would single-handedly push Americans’ healthcare premiums higher.

“It is a spiteful act of vast, pointless sabotage leveled at working families and the middle class in every corner of America,” they said. “Make no mistake about it, Trump will try to blame the Affordable Care Act, but this will fall on his back and he will pay the price for it.”

Insurers and proponents of Obamacare have implored Trump for months to commit to making the payments, which are worth billions of dollars. Several insurers have cited uncertainty over the payments when hiking premiums for 2018 or exiting insurance markets altogether.

Healthcare stocks have edged lower in recent days. Ending the payments could hurt shares of insurers such as Anthem Inc, Molina Healthcare Inc, Cigna Corp and Centene Corp, which are offering plans on Obamacare markets for 2018.

Trump has made the payments, guaranteed to insurers under Obamacare to help lower out-of-pocket medical expenses for low-income consumers, each month since taking office in January. But he has repeatedly threatened to cut them off and disparaged them as a “bailout” for insurance companies.

For Kathryn Haydon and her husband, who bought insurance under the law’s marketplace three years ago as struggling college students in Arkansas, the subsidies reduced the cost of their $310 plan by about $250, leaving them to pay $60 each month.

“If the subsidy was not there, we would have gone without health insurance,” she said. “Our finances were extremely tight at the time for us… we would have just hoped there were no catastrophes.”

LAWSUITS

The White House said late on Thursday that it could not lawfully pay the subsidies anymore.

A White House statement said that based on guidance from the Justice Department, “the Department of Health and Human Services has concluded that there is no appropriation for cost-sharing reduction payments to insurance companies under Obamacare.”

“In light of this analysis, the Government cannot lawfully make the cost-sharing reduction payments,” it said.

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said in a statement he was prepared to lead other attorneys general in a lawsuit.

“I will not allow President Trump to once again use New York families as political pawns in his dangerous, partisan campaign to eviscerate the Affordable Care Act at any cost,” he wrote.

The payments are the subject of a lawsuit brought by House Republicans against the Obama administration that alleged they were unlawful because they needed to be appropriated by Congress. A judge for the federal district court for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of the Republicans, and the Obama administration appealed the ruling.

The Trump administration took over the lawsuit and had delayed deciding whether to continue the Obama administration’s appeal or terminate the subsidies, but in April Trump began threatening to stop the payments.

That case became more complicated in August when a U.S. appeals court allowed 16 Democratic state attorneys general to defend the payments and have a say in the legal fight.

The political turbulence has affected insurers’ decisions.

Anthem Inc, one of the largest remaining Obamacare insurers, in August scaled back its offerings in Nevada and Georgia and blamed the moves in part on uncertainty over the payments.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina earlier this year raised premiums by more than 20 percent, but said it would have only raised premiums by about 9 percent if Trump agreed to fund the payments.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that cutting off the payments would cause premiums to rise 20 percent in 2018, and that 5 percent of Americans would live in areas that do not have an insurer in the individual market in 2018.

Trump has taken other steps to undermine Obamacare. Last week, his administration allowed businesses and non-profit organizations to seek exemptions from Obamacare’s mandate that employers provide birth control in health insurance with no co-payment.

The administration also slashed the Obamacare advertising and outreach budget and halved the open enrollment period.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Brendan O’Brien and Susan Heavey and; Editing by Michael Perry and Bernadette Baum)

Trump expected to sign order side-stepping Obamacare rules

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump calls on Republican Senators to move forward and vote on a healthcare bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, as people negatively affected by the law stand behind him, in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., July 24, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

By Yasmeen Abutaleb

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump was expected to sign an executive order on Thursday that would make it easier for Americans to buy bare-bones health insurance plans and circumvent rules put in place by Obamacare, though such an order could face legal challenges.

Stymied in Congress by the failure of Senate Republicans to roll back former President Barack Obama’s 2010 healthcare law, Trump’s executive order would represent his administration’s latest effort to undermine the law without legislation.

The order would allow small businesses and individuals to band together as associations to buy cheaper health plans that would be exempt from some Obamacare requirements. Among the requirements would be the mandate that all health plans cover 10 essential health benefits, including maternity and newborn care, prescription drugs, and mental health and addiction treatment.

The order would also change an Obama-era limit on the time span people can use short-term health insurance plans, which are cheaper but cover few medical benefits. Trump was expected to order an extension for the period that long short-term insurance can be used to about a year, versus three months under Obamacare.

Republicans, despite having control of the White House and both chambers of Congress, have for months been unable to make good on their seven-year promise to repeal Obamacare, which they view as a government intrusion into Americans’ healthcare.

Experts questioned whether Trump has the legal authority to expand association health plans and whether some plans, but not others, could be exempt from Obamacare rules.

The action could open Trump to legal challenges from Democratic state attorneys general, who have said they will sue Trump if he tries to destroy Obamacare, a law that brought health insurance coverage to millions of Americans.

Experts said the association health plans could attract young, healthy people and leave a sicker, more expensive patient pool in the individual insurance markets created under the healthcare law, driving up premiums and effectively eroding the law’s protection for those with pre-existing conditions.

Conservative groups and lawmakers, including Republican Senator Rand Paul, who said he has worked with Trump for months on the expected order, and Republican Senator Ron Johnson, have cheered the expected order. Paul opposed the Senate’s most recent attempt to overhaul Obamacare because he said it left too many of Obamcare’s regulations and spending programs in place.

Trump has taken a number of steps since assuming power in January to weaken or undermine Obamacare. He has not committed to making billions of dollars of payments to insurers guaranteed under Obamacare, prompting many to exit the individual market or hike premiums for 2018.

The administration also halved the open enrollment period, which begins Nov. 1, and slashed the Obamacare advertising and outreach budget.

(Reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Leslie Adler)

Students protest U.S. Attorney General speech at Georgetown

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at a news conference to address the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program at the Justice Department in Washington, U.S., September 5, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Students and faculty at Georgetown Law School gathered on Tuesday to protest that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was delivering an address about the right of free speech on college campuses to an invitation-only audience without giving critics of the Trump administration an opportunity to ask questions.

Several dozen protesters stood on the front steps of the school, some with duct tape over their mouths to symbolize that they felt their views were censored from the event. Some held signs denouncing racism, censorship and U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to rescind “DACA,” the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy that shields immigrants who were brought to the United State as children.

Taking turns with a bullhorn, students and some faculty members accused the school of shutting them out from attending the speech and asking questions.

In his address, Sessions focused on concerns about whether the rights of speakers on college campuses were being trampled by student protesters who find their views offensive.

Sessions complained that protesters were silencing speakers. He also said the department plans to file a brief in a college free speech case this week.

Protesters “are now routinely shutting down speeches and debates across the country in an effort to silence voices that insufficiently conform with their views,” he said.

One protester, third-year law student Charlotte Berschback, complained on the sidelines of the protest that invitations to the Sessions speech had been withdrawn from students who had RSVPed and had initially been told they would have a seat.

“We pay a ton of tuition,” she said. “We should have a role in deciding who comes to our school.” She added that liberal students had been excluded from attending the Sessions event and that the school should have used a lottery process to let students attend.

Sessions cited concerns about multiple incidents at college campuses around the country, including the University of California at Berkeley and Middlebury College in Vermont.

Sessions mentioned recent violent protests at Berkeley. He said the school “was reportedly forced to spend more than $600,000 and have an overwhelming police presence simply to prove that the mob was not in control of the campus.”

The Justice Department later said it was also filing a brief on behalf of students at Georgia Gwinnett College who are challenging a school policy that requires them to use “free speech zones” to express their views.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by David Gregorio)

Obamacare repeal in U.S. Senate collapses as Republicans falter

Protesters, mostly handicapped, line the hallway outside the Senate Finance Committee hearing room hours ahead a hearing on the latest Republican effort to repeal Obamacare on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Another Republican attempt to dismantle Obamacare collapsed in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday as the party was unable to win enough support from its own senators for a bill to repeal the healthcare reform law.

Several Republican senators said there will be no vote in the Senate after some lawmakers withheld support for the measure.

“We basically ran out of time,” said Senator Ron Johnson.

Senator Pat Roberts, another Republican, told reporters the party would target healthcare “in some form” later in the current legislative session.

Failing to carry through on a 7-year-old effort to roll back the 2010 healthcare law would be an embarrassing setback for Republicans and a heavy blow for President Donald Trump, who vowed during the 2016 election campaign to scrap Obamacare.

After losing a Senate vote on repealing Obamacare in July,

Republicans tried again this month with a bill that would take

federal money and give it to the states in block grants to regulate their own healthcare systems.

But several Republican senators refused to back the latest bill, including Senator Susan Collins, who on Monday complained that it undermined the Medicaid program for the poor and disabled and weakened protections for people with pre-existing conditions, such as asthma, cancer and diabetes.

Trump said on Tuesday his administration was disappointed in “certain so-called Republicans” who did not support the bill.

Republicans hold a slim 52-48 majority in the Senate and

at least two other Republican senators, John McCain and Rand Paul, had earlier rejected the bill.

Republicans have tried for years to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, but they were up against a Sept. 30 deadline to pass a bill with a simple majority, or face a much tougher path toward dismantling it.

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Bill Trott)

Obamacare repeal on the ropes as pivotal Republican rebuffs Trump

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) (C) departs after the weekly Republican caucus policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. September 19, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

By Susan Cornwell and Yasmeen Abutaleb

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Susan Collins rebuffed intense lobbying from fellow Republicans and the promise of money for her state in deciding on Monday to oppose – and likely doom – her party’s last-ditch effort to repeal Obamacare.

The most moderate of Republican senators joined John McCain and Rand Paul in rejecting the bill to end Obamacare. It was a major blow for President Donald Trump who has made undoing Democratic former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law a top priority since the 2016 campaign and who pressured Collins in a call on Monday.

The bill’s sweeping cut in funding to Medicaid, a program for low income citizens and disabled children, was her top reason for opposing the bill, said Collins, from the state of Maine where 20 percent of the population depend on the program.

“To take a program that has been law for more than 50 years, and make those kinds of fundamental structural changes … and to do so without having in depth hearings to evaluate the impact on our most vulnerable citizens was unacceptable,” Collins said outside the Senate chambers.

She also opposed the bill for weakening protections for people with pre-existing conditions, such as asthma, cancer and diabetes.

Collins’ decision came even after the sponsors of the bill, Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, offered a boost in federal health care funds of 43 percent for Maine and benefits for states with other undecided senators.

Republicans have vowed to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, since it was passed in 2010. While it extended health insurance to some 20 million Americans, they believe it is an unwarranted and costly government intrusion into healthcare, while also opposing taxes it imposed on the wealthy.

Republicans hold a slim 52-48 majority in the Senate and are up against a tight September 30 deadline to pass a bill with a simple majority, instead of the 60-vote threshold needed for most measures. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wanted to hold a vote this week, but it is not clear he will do so now that three senators have said they will cast “no” votes.

Graham dismissed notions that the bill was the last chance for Republicans to get rid of Obamacare and pledged to keep working on the legislation.

$1 TRILLION CUT TO MEDICAID

Democrats kept up their pressure for killing the bill. In an evening speech on the Senate floor, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said, “The Trumpcare bill would gut Medicaid, would cause millions to lose coverage, cause chaos in the marketplace.”

Schumer said once repeal of Obamacare is off the table, Democrats want to work with Republicans “to find a compromise that stabilizes markets, that lowers premiums.”

Collins and McCain, who voted against the last major repeal effort in July, have both advocated for a bipartisan solution to fixing the parts of Obamacare that do not function well.

U.S. hospital stocks were down across the board as the bill struggled. Shares of HCA Healthcare Inc and Tenet Healthcare Corp were hit particularly hard, falling 2.5 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively, on Monday.

“The Graham-Cassidy bill is looking to reduce funding for Medicaid in the longer term,” said Jefferies analyst Brian Tanquilut. “That is a benefit that we have seen improve the earnings outlooks for these hospitals.”

Collins announced her opposition shortly after the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said that the number of people with health insurance covering high-cost medical events would be slashed by millions if it were to become law.

CBO also found that federal spending on Medicaid would be cut by about $1 trillion from 2017 to 2026 under the Graham-Cassidy proposal, and that millions of people would lose their coverage in the program, mainly from a repeal of federal funding for Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.

The Trump administration, including Health Secretary Tom Price had lobbied her hard in recent days, Collins said.

“The president called me today, the vice president called me in Maine over the weekend, Secretary Price has called me, it would probably be a shorter list of who hasn’t called me about this bill,” she said.

Trump had not called Collins before the vote in July.

PROTESTERS IN WHEELCHAIRS

The Senate held its first hearing all year on the proposed Obamacare repeal on Monday, but it was immediately disrupted by protesters who forced Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch to postpone its start by about 15 minutes.

Police arrested 181 demonstrators, including 15 in the hearing room. The protesters, mainly from a disability rights group and many of whom were in wheelchairs, were forcibly removed one-by-one from the hearing room as they yelled, “No cuts to Medicaid, save our liberty.” The hearing eventually proceeded for about five hours, but protests could be heard outside for more than an hour.

Television talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, who had become part of the debate on U.S. healthcare legislation in May after discussing his newborn son’s heart surgery, had taken aim at the bill in recent days. On Monday he tweeted: “Thank you @SenatorCollins for putting people ahead of party. We are all in your debt.”

A new CBS poll released on Monday said that a majority of Americans, or 52 percent, disapprove of the Graham-Cassidy bill, while 20 percent approve. The poll was taken between Sept. 21 and 24.

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan; Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner, Philip Stewart, Makini Brice, Amanda Becker and Alistair Bell in Washington and Caroline Humer in New York; writing by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Bill Trott and Mary Milliken)

Obamacare repeal must move quickly, says Senate’s McConnell

Activists participate in a rally to protect the Affordable Care Act outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., September 19, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate’s top Republican on Tuesday urged quick action on a bill to repeal Obamacare but stopped short of promising to bring it to the Senate floor for a vote, as the clock ticks down on the latest attempt to kill the 2010 healthcare law.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s Republican leader, called the legislation drafted by senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy “an intriguing idea and one that has a great deal of support.”

Lawmakers should act because “our opportunity to do so may well pass us by if we don’t act soon,” McConnell said on the Senate floor.

The bill has revived a fight that many in Washington thought was over when an Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill flopped in the Senate in July, humiliating McConnell and President Donald Trump.

The latest measure has less than two weeks before procedural rules in the Senate make it much more difficult for the Republicans to do away with Obamacare.

The bill proposes replacing Obamacare with a system that would give states money in block grants to run their own healthcare programs and let them opt out of some Obamacare rules. Critics say it would bring deep cuts to the Medicaid program for the poor and higher insurance premiums for older people.

“Graham-Cassidy would be devastating for individuals with pre-existing conditions,” the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington, said in a statement.

McConnell stopped short of promising to bring the legislation to the Senate floor. But he said Republican lawmakers would continue to discuss it. He has been meeting with lawmakers to assess whether the bill has the votes to pass.

The proposal is the latest salvo in a long-running Republican war on Obamacare, and Graham and Cassidy say they are close to securing the votes needed for passage.

If approved, it would replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, known informally as Obamacare, which Republicans have long seen as government overreach into the healthcare business.

Several Republicans – the same ones whose votes blocked repeal of Obamacare in July – are still undecided on the latest bill and time is running out.

A special parliamentary procedure that would allow the bill to move forward with only 51 votes will expire at the end of the month. After that, it would need 60 votes, like most Senate legislation. Republicans have a 52-vote Senate majority.

The Senate Finance Committee said it will hold a hearing on the bill next week.

If the Senate can pass the bill, “the hope would be that the House would take it up and pass it and the president sign it,” said John Cornyn, the No. 2 Senate Republican.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Republicans were “grossly irresponsible” to consider legislation before even getting a full assessment of its impacts from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan and Amanda Becker; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Alistair Bell)

Anthem cuts back Obamacare coverage in Missouri to 68 counties

FILE PHOTO: The office building of health insurer Anthem in seen in Los Angeles, California February 5, 2015. REUTERS/Gus Ruelas

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. health insurer Anthem Inc said on Friday that it will no longer offer Obamacare plans in 17 counties in Missouri but will remain in the bulk of the state, covering 68 counties that would not otherwise have Obamacare coverage for their residents.

Health insurers are facing an upheaval in their businesses amid growing uncertainty about healthcare legislation under President Donald Trump, who seeks to follow through on his promise to dismantle former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, formally known as the Affordable Care Act.

Insurers such as UnitedHealth Group Inc, Aetna Inc and Humana Inc have exited most of the states where they sold Obamacare plans, leaving hundreds of U.S. counties at risk of losing access to private health coverage in 2018.

But other insurers, including Centene Corp, have filled those gaps, expanding into counties that had lost their coverage options.

Every U.S. county is currently projected to have at least one insurer offering Obamacare individual coverage next year. Still, 1,476 counties could have only one insurer in 2018.

(Reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

End of U.S. payments to health insurers would cause premiums to rise: CBO

FILE PHOTO: A patients room is pictured at a medical center hospital in San Diego, California, U.S., April 17, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake

By Yasmeen Abutaleb

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Health insurance premiums for many customers on the Obamacare individual insurance markets would be 20 percent higher in 2018 if U.S. President Donald Trump follows through on a threat to stop billions of dollars of payments to health insurers, a nonpartisan congressional office said on Tuesday.

The Congressional Budget Office also found that terminating the payments would mean that 5 percent of Americans would live in areas that do not have an insurer in the individual market in 2018. However, the agency estimated that more insurers would participate by 2020 because they will have observed how the markets work without the payments and most people would be able to purchase insurance.

The CBO’s assessment echoes concerns raised by insurers over the past several months, who have said that terminating the payments would cause premiums to rise.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to withhold the payments, called cost-sharing reductions, which amount to about $7 billion in 2017 and help cover out-of-pocket medical expenses for low-income Americans. Trump has derided the payments as a “bailout” for insurance companies.

The CBO found that the number of uninsured would be slightly higher in 2018 but slightly lower in 2020 as more insurers joined the market. It also found that premiums would be 25 percent higher by 2020, which would increase the amount of government-provided tax credits to help shield low-income people from premium increases.

Several insurers have cited the uncertainty over the payments in raising insurance premiums by double digits for 2018 or in exiting some individual insurance markets.

Anthem Inc, one of the largest remaining Obamacare insurers, earlier this month scaled back its offerings in Nevada and Georgia and blamed the moves in part on uncertainty over the payments. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina earlier this year raised premiums by more than 20 percent, but said it would have only raised premiums by about 9 percent if Trump agreed to fund the payments.

The payments are the subject of a lawsuit brought by House Republicans against the Obama administration that alleged they were unlawful because they needed to be appropriated by Congress. A judge for the federal district court for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of the Republicans, and the Obama administration appealed the ruling.

The Trump administration took over the lawsuit and has so far delayed deciding whether to continue the Obama administration’s appeal or terminate the subsidies. That case became more complicated earlier this month when a U.S. appeals court allowed Democratic state attorneys general to defend the payments and have a say in the legal fight.

The administration has decided month-to-month whether to continue the payments. Its next installment is due Aug. 21.

Trump has grown increasingly frustrated as Republicans, who control the White House, Senate and House, have been unable to pass a repeal or replacement of the Affordable Care Act, former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement. After the Senate effort failed in July, Trump tweeted days later threatening to stop the payments.

The CBO estimated the federal deficit would increase by $194 billion from 2017 through 2026 if the payments are terminated.

(Reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Chris Reese)

Anthem to exit Obamacare market in Virginia next year

FILE PHOTO: The office building of health insurer Anthem is seen in Los Angeles, California February 5, 2015. REUTERS/Gus Ruelas/File Photo

(Reuters) – U.S. health insurer Anthem Inc <ANTM.N> said on Friday it will exit Obamacare markets in Virginia and reduce its plan offerings in Washington and Scott counties and the city of Bristol next year.

The move comes nearly two weeks after President Donald Trump took aim at insurers by threatening to cut the healthcare subsidy payments that make Obamacare plans affordable, after repeatedly failing in his efforts to dismantle former President Barack Obama’s healthcare law.

Insurers are facing an upheaval in their health insurance businesses due to uncertainty over the healthcare legislation as Republican lawmakers seek to follow through on their promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Health insurers, such as UnitedHealth Group Inc <UNH.N>, Aetna Inc <AET.N> and Humana Inc <HUM.N>, have also exited most of the states where they used to sell plans.

The insurers have asked the government to commit to making the $8 billion in subsidy payments for 2018, saying they may raise rates or leave the individual insurance marketplace if there is too much uncertainty.

On Monday, Anthem said it would no longer offer Obamacare plans in Nevada’s state exchange and half of Georgia’s counties in 2018.

The company said on Friday it will only offer off-exchange plans in Washington and Scott counties and the city of Bristol.

Hundreds of U.S. counties are at risk of losing access to private health coverage in 2018 as health insurers consider pulling out of those markets in the coming months.

Last week, Molina Healthcare Inc <MOH.N> said it would stop selling Obamacare plans in Utah and Wisconsin.

(Reporting by Divya Grover in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)