The Outlook for Stabilizing Obamacare in 2018 and the President Who Can't Shoot Straight

The Alexander-Murray bipartisan effort to stabilize the Obamacare individual insurance markets will not pass the Congress on its own. 

The only chance it now has is to be added to a must-pass legislative deal, such as the one needed to fund the government by the December 8th deadline in order to avoid a government shutdown.

Also sitting in the queue, and certain to pass at some time, is the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) reauthorization bill. The Congress is currently struggling over the pay-fors for this reauthorization but there is wide bipartisan agreement that it must be funded before the states start running out of money, which will begin in a few weeks. CHIP now covers nine million kids.

Conservative Republicans are adamant that they do not want to pass an “insurance company bailout” bill like Alexander-Murray. Particularly in the House, where Republicans were able to pass a "repeal and replace" bill, these members have already taken a controversial vote to cut Medicaid and insurance subsidy support and after that tough vote don't now want to have to explain why they have backtracked to "bail out" Obamacare with the Alexander-Murray short-term patch bill.

Donald Trump Doesn't Know the Diffrence Between an Unfunded Mandate and a Bailout

By killing the cost sharing reduction (CSR) subsidies has Trump stopped what he has called an "insurance company bailout"? Or, has he created an unfunded mandate?

The Obamacare statute requires the health plans to provide cost sharing reduction subsidies to reduce the deductibles and co-pays in the Obamacare compliant individual health insurance market for those who make less than 250% of the federal poverty level. It is a mandate. Funding a mandate is not a bailout. In Washington, DC we call failing to fund a mandate an unfunded mandate.

What Trump's Obamacare Cost Sharing Subsidy Rollback Means to Health Insurers and the Middle Class

My NPR All Things Considered Interview with Michel Martin:

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
We have one more conversation about healthcare. As we just heard, health insurers are trying to figure out what to do without the [cost sharing reduction] reimbursement from the government that the Trump administration says will no longer be paid. The question is, will insurers raise their rates or withdraw from the health exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act? For perspective on this, we called Robert Laszewski. He's a former insurance executive who's now a health policy consultant. Mr. Laszewski, thanks so much for speaking with us.

ROBERT LASZEWSKI: You're welcome.

MARTIN: So based on your knowledge of the industry, what are the options that insurers are considering to deal with the lack of these subsidies?

The Future of Obamacare, Single Payer Proposals, and Health Care Costs as the Real Problem

Link: My Sunday morning interview with Sharyl Attkisson on Full Measure