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Medicare’s trust fund will run out of money in just over 10 years, according to a new report from the program’s trustees. Once that happens, the federal government won’t collect enough in payroll taxes to cover beneficiaries’ hospital bills. Congress could hike taxes to cover the shortfall. Or it could ration care to save money. Or it could modernize and restructure Medicare — by giving beneficiaries means-tested vouchers to buy private insurance. Doing so would protect taxpayers now, preserve the program for future generations and even provide higher-quality care to seniors. (Sally Pipes, 8/22)

One of the principal achievements of the Affordable Care Act was its prohibition on denying insurance coverage to patients with pre-existing conditions. Under the ACA, insurance companies must sell polices to people with chronic diseases and charge the same premiums paid by healthy people. (Craig Blinderman, 8/22)

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina this month lowered its 2018 premium rate increase request for individual market policies. The revised request – 14.1 percent, down from 22.9 percent – comes after Blue Cross’s claims data show that the market is stabilizing and costs are getting under control. (Brendan Riley and Allison Rice, 8/21)

Now that efforts to dismantle Medicaid and the ACA have hit a wall, our state has the opportunity to follow this example by working collectively to strengthen the health system for everyone by ensuring all Georgians have health care coverage. There are an estimated 300,000 to 600,000 Georgians who are stuck in the state’s coverage gap because they do not qualify for Medicaid and are too poor to buy health insurance through the ACA’s insurance exchange. Expanding our state’s Medicaid program, as 31 other states have done, would mean that these friends and neighbors would share the same ability to go to the doctor and benefit from financial protection from large medical bills as you and I. (Laura Colbert, 8/22)

Now that efforts to dismantle Medicaid and the ACA have hit a wall, our state has the opportunity to follow this example by working collectively to strengthen the health system for everyone by ensuring all Georgians have health care coverage. There are an estimated 300,000 to 600,000 Georgians who are stuck in the state’s coverage gap because they do not qualify for Medicaid and are too poor to buy health insurance through the ACA’s insurance exchange. (Laura Colbert, 8/22)