Affordable Care Act – Virginia

ACA Update — Trump Creates Health Insurance “Sticker Shock”

November 1, 2017 by David Toscano

I recently wrote about the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance marketplace. Today, as many citizens begin the Open Enrollment Season to sign up for 2018 health insurance, we are discovering just how drastically Trump and his Republican allies in Congress are hurting Americans by actively trying to destabilize the health insurance market in order to kill the ACA.

Insurance Rates Roller Coaster

Insurance companies have to set their premiums, or “rates,” many months before the Healthcare.gov exchange opens, because state agencies (in Virginia, the Bureau of Insurance, which is a division of the State Corporation Commission) must review insurers’ plans and proposed rates in the summertime to meet federal deadlines. As you probably recall, during the first eight months of 2017 Congress tried several times to repeal the ACA. Trump used his Twitter account to agitate for repeal, even threatening Representatives and Senators who did not fall into line with his desire to get rid of “Obamacare.”

He also actively sabotaged a crucial ACA tool that has kept premiums lower by threatening to eliminate the cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments to insurance companies that helped families afford coverage. Faced with so much uncertainty and increased risk, health insurers began to withdraw their participation in some markets, and requested approval of significantly higher premiums for many of their ACA-compliant policies. [Read more…]

Republicans Are Hurting the ACA, and All of Us

October 16, 2017 by David Toscano

Republicans’ Insidious Undermining of the Affordable Care Act

Newly-elected Donald Trump asserted that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be repealed on day one of his administration. Ten months and numerous close votes later, the ACA remains the law of the land. Nonetheless, the Trump administration and its Republican allies in Congress have been relentless in their efforts to destroy the Act from within, and all of us who support health insurance access at reasonable cost cannot let them go unchallenged. Their strategy is sophisticated and multifaceted. And Republicans in Washington and in Virginia have been complicit with this strategy by their deafening silence.

If You Can’t Win The Votes, Sabotage the Market

Trump’s consistent threat to withhold the subsidies (CSRs) which allow insurance companies to keep premium increases to a minimum became reality last week with his Executive Order. The result should surprise no one; faced with unpredictable markets and increasing costs, health insurance companies will either abandon offering coverage or increase premiums to cover their risk. The no-subsidy threat alone has had serious effects. In Virginia, for example, Anthem pulled out of the marketplace in August, leaving more than 60 jurisdictions with no insurer offering coverage. It was only after intense political pressure from Gov. McAuliffe and others that Anthem jumped back in, but premiums are expected to rise. Now that the administration is definitely reneging on federal payments, the reality will be devastating. Some 240,000 Virginians bought health insurance supported by ACA-mandated subsidies; their costs will rise and some will simply not re-enroll, thereby creating a so-called “death spiral” in the markets. [Read more…]

Virginians Dodge Another Health Care Bullet From Washington

August 1, 2017 by David Toscano

While Virginians can rest a little easier today as the latest Republican assault on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been defeated, challenges remain, and could find their way into the next General Assembly session.

Since Donald Trump’s inauguration as President in January, Virginians have been dodging bullets from Washington, D.C., as the White House and Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate propose policy after policy, which, if enacted, would dramatically impact our citizens, particularly those who are most disadvantaged.

Many citizens have focused intently on the Russia probe, Trump’s tweets, his travel ban, his treatment of our allies, his boorish behavior, his attacks on his own Attorney General, on transgender military personnel, and even his not-so-subtle efforts to undermine the 1st Amendment. But while we are justifiably concerned about all of these issues, Virginians and our economic security are put even more at risk from other policies that Trump and his allies are advocating, particularly in the health care arena. Virginia Republicans, from Ed Gillespie to members of the House of Delegates, have either fully embraced these hurtful policies, or have tacitly done so by remaining silent. [Read more…]

“Trumpcare” Part Two – cutting Virginians’ health care to fund tax breaks for the wealthy

June 30, 2017 by David Toscano

Donald Trump had it right when he described health care in the United States with the phrase, “It’s complicated.” And now Republicans at both national and state levels are discovering how complicated it is.

President Obama’s significant legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), has survived a number of legal challenges and been the law of the land since 2010. It made major changes in a healthcare industry that represents 18 percent of the GNP, providing substantial benefits to a wide variety of Americans, including thousands of Virginians. The percentage of Americans with health insurance has risen dramatically. The law allows families to cover their children on their health insurance plans through age 26, and prevents insurance companies from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions. ACA established certain “essential health benefits” that must be included in all insurance plans, and provided an incentive for states to include more people in their Medicaid programs. It established a mechanism by which working families could purchase health insurance on “insurance exchanges” and receive tax subsidies to assist them in doing so.

Trumpcare threatens to undo many of these provisions, and, in the process, provide a major tax break to the wealthiest people in the United States; the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says that the Senate bill cuts taxes by $1 trillion over 10 years, with one-third of that amount going to the 100 wealthiest families in America. This is not “repeal and replace;” rather, it is an example of “cut and redistribute.” [Read more…]

“Trumpcare” Passes; Consumers and Virginia Will Take the Hit

May 8, 2017 by David Toscano

The chart below tells you everything you need to know about the House Republican bill (AHCA) to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). “They took $800 billion for health care from the poorest among us,” said Joe Scarborough on Morning Joe, “and they gave $600 billion in tax cuts for the wealthiest among us.” That’s what this healthcare bill is. [Read more…]