When she was Pennsylvania’s insurance commissioner, Jessica Altman, the appointee of a Democratic governor, often bumped against the political limits of health care policy in a state where Republicans controlled the legislature. Despite the constraints of a divided government, Altman played a key role in persuading lawmakers in 2019 to join Gov. Tom Wolf in passing legislation that established Pennsylvania’s state-run Affordable Care ... (More)
Virus, Biden order prompt extension
January 29, 2021 Leave a Comment
Covered California has extended its open enrollment until May 15, following up on President Biden's executive order extending sign-ups in the federal marketplace. Enrollment had been scheduled to expire at the end of the month. Similar to the steps Covered California took last year, the new special-enrollment period will the uninsured to sign up for coverage without needing to meet the normal qualifying life events, such as recent ... (More)
AG vows to fight ACA court ruling
December 19, 2019 Leave a Comment
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has vowed to fight a federal court's ruling that penalties for not having health insurance are unconstitutional. The ruling came via a lawsuit designed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The Dec. 18 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the so-called individual mandate previously used by Obamacare was an unconstitutional tax. President Trump succeeded in removing the ... (More)
‘Risk adjustment’ payouts frozen
July 11, 2018 Leave a Comment
Health insurers and Covered California officials are facing another curveball from the Trump administration on the Affordable Care Act that could rattle the insurance market. In early July, Seema Verma, administrator for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said she was suspending a $10 billion program that helps stabilize the insurance markets created under the health law. She said the "risk adjustment" ... (More)
‘Silver loading’ to continue in ’19
June 7, 2018 Leave a Comment
Federal officials will not block insurance companies from again using a workaround to cushion a steep rise in health premiums caused by President Trump's cancellation of a program established under the Affordable Care Act, HHS Secretary Alex Azar announced. The technique -- called "silver loading" because it pushed price increases onto the silver-level plans in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces -- was used by many states for 2018 ... (More)
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