Lawmakers who oppose the Affordable Care Act often cite the effect on small business owners as one reason to repeal it. They say it costs small businesses too much and discourages them from growing. Earlier this year, the New York Times reported on the results of two polls showing that 60% of small business owners … Continue reading Health Insurance & the American Dream
Obamacare, ACA, insurance exchange, marketplace—whatever you call it, the time to enroll is right now! Here are some tips and resources: Don’t wait until the last minute, because the last minute is coming sooner than you think. The enrollment period for the federal marketplace, Healthcare.gov, as well as multiple state marketplaces, is only six weeks—that’s … Continue reading Online Health Insurance Marketplaces are Open NOW!
Trump said Obamacare is dead (nope, definitely not). Then he said he supported a bipartisan plan to save subsidies (well, that’s good news). Then he said he did not support that same plan (what the…?). You might feel like you need a scorecard and a decoder ring to keep up with it all. To help, … Continue reading Confused About What’s Going On with Obamacare? Here Are Some Answers.
Conservative Republicans in the Senate are going for broke in their attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act before September 30. The latest bill, drafted by Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, combines every bad idea that has appeared in a repeal bill to date and then some. The impact … Continue reading The New Republican Healthcare Bill Doesn’t Only Repeal the ACA. It Also Blows Giant Holes in Medicaid.
Updated Fri., Sept. 8: After unexpectedly announcing extreme cuts to funding to support outreach for the 2018 open enrollment period, the Trump administration has allowed funding to enrollment assistance programs to lapse entirely. According to Sarah Kliff at Vox, who broke this story, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) hasn't told the organizations … Continue reading Were Cuts to Outreach Funding a Last Minute About-Face? UPDATE: Outreach Budgets Have Lapsed, Programs Are Laying Off Navigators.
Last week the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a 72% cut to funding to support enrolling eligible individuals into coverage under the ACA. This includes a 90% cut to the advertising budget for the 2018 marketplace enrollment period—from $100 million to $10 million—and a 41% cut to funding for navigators, the in-person … Continue reading Forty Percent of Uninsured People Still Don’t Know the Health Insurance Marketplace Exists. Cuts to Outreach Will Make Sure It Stays That Way.
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES In Part 1 we talked about everything the Senate has been doing on healthcare during their alleged vacation. Now we turn to the House of Representatives. It seems so long ago, but the House did pass a repeal and replace bill, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), back in May. So … Continue reading Congress Agrees on Pretty Much Nothing When It Comes to Healthcare. We Can Work with That. (Part 2)
Last week the Commonwealth Fund released a report looking at whether the Affordable Care Act had succeeded in reducing the healthcare disparities between Black and Hispanic populations and whites. The conclusion: The ACA has made definite progress in narrowing the gap, particularly in those states that expanded Medicaid. However, disparities remain and Blacks and Hispanics … Continue reading Quick Read: The ACA has narrowed the healthcare access gap for Black and Hispanic Americans.
PART 1: THE SENATE Congress has been on vacation since the beginning of August but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been doing anything. There have continued to be new developments in the healthcare debate since John McCain cast the deciding vote against the “skinny repeal” bill on July 28. And if you had to pick … Continue reading Congress Agrees on Pretty Much Nothing When It Comes to Healthcare. We Can Work with That.
