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 President Donald Trump and Tom Price, Health and Human Services
Secretary, have promised to begin transferring more power over
health insurance to the states in a three-part process. This would
include rule-making to tweak the guidelines under the ACA, the
healthcare overhaul bill currently being considered by Congress, and
then further legislation.
As the administration seeks to repeal Obamacare, it says it will aim
to replace the federal oversight on insurance plans with state
control.
Former President Barack Obama's national healthcare reform law,
often called Obamacare, had originally laid out a roadmap for states
to have more power in deciding how to implement the law as long as
they met four key criteria for so-called state innovation waivers.
But in 2015, the Obama administration issued new regulatory guidance
that would have tightened the use of such waivers, which were able
to be used as of Jan. 1, 2017.
However, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid said in a
news release on Monday that the "section 1332" waivers could be used
to help states receive funding to help offset costs for high-risk
patients and premium stabilization programs related to the
individual marketplace.
More sick people signed up for insurance in that program than health
insurers had anticipated, driving premiums up 25 percent this year
on average and raising questions about whether insurers will remain
to offer insurance in 2018 during the transition to the new Trump
plans. UnitedHealth Group Inc and Aetna Inc largely left the market
this year, while Anthem Inc has stayed in for 2017.
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The Trump administration is backing the bill in the U.S. House of
Representatives that would gut parts of Obamacare, but it is not
certain it will get the support needed for passage in the U.S.
Senate, where it faces resistance from both conservative and
moderate Republicans.
(Reporting by Caroline Humer; Editing by Frances Kerry)
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