The proposed federal legislation, currently under
consideration in the U.S.
Senate, would destabilize the individual health
insurance market and increase premiums and out-of-pocket costs for
lower-income New Yorkers who buy policies through NY State of Health, the
state’s online exchange established under Obamacare.
Of particular concern for New York, the report said,
are tax credits in the Republican proposal that are based on age rather than
income or the cost of coverage, as under the current system.
And:
Funding for about 25 percent of New York’s Essential Plan
would also be cut under the Republican proposal, the UHF report said. The
Essential Plan offers health coverage with premiums of $20 a month or less to
about 650,000 New Yorkers above the income eligibility level for Medicaid.
Thank you, Governor Cuomo.
Earlier this week, Gov. Andrew
Cuomo signaled his intent to maintain Obamacare in New York, with
the announcement of emergency regulations that would keep the federal law’s
provisions intact and penalize health insurers if they withdraw from NY State
of Health.
Of course, that was gentle compared to the Washington Post.
Key Republicans understand the damage they are doing.
“Insurers have made clear the lack of certainty is causing 2018 proposed
premiums to rise significantly,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin
Brady (R-Tex.) said Thursday,
arguing that Congress should step in. As the administration still appears
determined to stoke uncertainty, lawmakers would have to move quickly to
prevent more damage.
The question of cost-sharing reductions is only the biggest
of many fears the Trump administration is inspiring. The president’s
maladministration could include lax enforcement of the individual mandate to purchase health
insurance, inadequate efforts to enroll more people in coverage and other
gratuitous subversions of the finely tuned system Obamacare sought to create.
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