{"id":58861,"date":"2018-02-15T05:13:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-15T05:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=58861"},"modified":"2018-02-15T05:13:00","modified_gmt":"2018-02-15T05:13:00","slug":"how-one-conservative-state-is-flouting-obamacare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/how-one-conservative-state-is-flouting-obamacare.html","title":{"rendered":"How one conservative state is flouting Obamacare"},"content":{"rendered":"

How one conservative state is flouting Obamacare<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

The Republican-led state has a maverick plan to flout the federal health care law, letting insurers sell plans that don\u2019t meet Obamacare coverage rules and patient protections. And the brazen move \u2014 Gov. Butch Otter is plowing ahead on his own, without seeking federal waivers or permission \u2014 poses a test for the Trump administration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other conservative states see Idaho\u2019s gambit as a blueprint for shaking off Obamacare\u2019s strict regulations. But legal experts and consumer advocates who back the Affordable Care Act say it won\u2019t be so easy. They expect costly and time-consuming lawsuits over health insurance and state directives that directly conflict with federal law.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It sure seems open-and-shut to me,” said Jay Angoff, a former Obama administration health official and attorney who has challenged other state efforts to undercut the 2010 law.<\/span><\/p>\n

The state\u2019s largest insurer, Blue Cross of Idaho, announced Wednesday it has five \u201cstate-based\u201d plans that it wants to get approved and on the market by April. They will be cheaper than Obamacare plans but won\u2019t provide as robust benefits or protections for people with pre-existing conditions.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s an early challenge for new HHS Secretary Alex Azar, entering his third week on the job. Testifying on the president\u2019s budget Wednesday, Azar wouldn\u2019t say whether he\u2019d let Idaho move ahead or block it.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We’ll look at that whenever it comes to us,” Azar said. “There are rules, and there’s a rule of law that we need to enforce.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The Idaho plan is already playing a role in the crowded GOP gubernatorial primary. Lt. Gov. Brad Little, a front-runner to succeed Otter, has made it a staple in his campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Obamacare market has been \u201chemorrhaging\u201d customers, particularly the prized young and healthy ones essential for keeping the market stable, Little told POLITICO. \u201cThis is an Idaho solution to that problem,\u201d he declared.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dean Cameron, director of the Idaho Department of Insurance, said that \u201cdozens\u201d of red states have already expressed interest in potentially emulating the state\u2019s plan. He downplayed any legal challenge, saying he\u2019s confident the state will win.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had more attorneys than I can shake a stick at review it,\u201d Cameron said. \u201cWe think we are in a very legally defensible position.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Blue Cross of Idaho officials said they\u2019re simply responding to an increasingly dire problem for their customers. Middle-class Idahoans who make too much money to qualify for Obamacare subsidies are facing sky-high premiums and opting to go without coverage. The insurer estimates there are about 110,000 people across the state who fall into that category \u2014 roughly the same number who are enrolled in Obamacare plans.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThose healthy people that can\u2019t afford coverage have already left the market,\u201d said Dave Jeppesen, executive vice president of the Idaho Blue. \u201cIt\u2019s already destabilized.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The ACA\u2019s supporters worry that Idaho\u2019s scheme isn\u2019t about consumer choice but about dismantling Obamacare. Patient groups also quickly panned the Idaho plan out of fear that sicker people will face higher premiums and the new insurance products could exclude key benefits, including maternity care and cancer screenings.<\/span><\/p>\n

A number of steps at the federal level could further destabilize the already wobbly Obamacare markets. The GOP’s new tax cut package repealed the individual mandate penalty, effective in 2019. The Trump administration is in the midst of proposing new regulations that would make it easier for states to allow cheaper, skinnier plans that don\u2019t meet the current coverage rules.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Idaho marketplace previously estimated that it could lose half of its customers if plans that shun Obamacare rules are permitted to be sold.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really a comprehensive frontal assault on the Affordable Care Act,\u201d said Tim Jost, an Obamacare supporter and legal expert who has written extensively about the law.<\/span><\/p>\n

Idaho\u2019s move to ignore Obamacare rules, which state officials announced at the end of January, is only one part of a health agenda that could radically alter the state\u2019s coverage landscape. The state is also seeking to make more people eligible for Obamacare tax credits to make insurance more affordable on the law’s marketplaces. Although the state hasn\u2019t expanded Medicaid under Obamacare, which would cover up to 78,000 people, it has developed a plan for partial expansion for roughly 2,500 low-income people with serious medical conditions. Both ideas require approval from the Idaho Legislature and federal officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

The state has a mixed record on the health law. Despite shunning Medicaid expansion, Otter was one of the very few GOP governors who opted to set up a state-based Obamacare exchange, rather than relying on the federal HealthCare.gov portal. Idaho’s Obamacare market remains competitive, with nearly 102,000 people signing up for medical and dental coverage this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Blue Cross of Idaho jumped in to quickly offer the new state plans, discord is brewing among other health insurance companies active in the state. In a statement Wednesday, Regence Blue Shield of Idaho said it believed the only way Idaho could pursue such a plan legally is by seeking an Obamacare waiver from federal officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Affordable Care Act is still valid law, and we do not see how the guidance contained in the Jan. 24, 2018, bulletin fits within that framework,\u201d a company spokesman told POLITICO.<\/span><\/p>\n

But others don\u2019t think Idaho should have to rely on such permission.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a state; we don\u2019t need approval,\u201d Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) said Wednesday. \u201cGet out of here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2018\/02\/14\/idaho-obamacare-trump-administration-insurance-347961<\/span><\/p>\n

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