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Businesses are pushing back on the Internal Revenue Service’s decision to begin enforcing the Affordable Care Act’s employer insurance mandate, challenging penalties that run into the millions and asserting the agency is wrong to impose the fines. The ACA imposes a penalty on employers with more than 50 workers who don’t provide qualifying coverage to employees, but the fines weren’t initially enforced. In November, the IRS said it would begin assessing penalties, starting with companies that failed to comply in 2015, when parts of the employer mandate first kicked in. (Armour, 2/13)

Blue Cross of Idaho said it plans to use new rules set by state regulators to sell insurance that doesn’t meet all the requirements of the Affordable Care Act, a move that could force the Trump administration to take a stance on the legality of such products. The not-for-profit company’s efforts will be closely watched by officials and insurers around the country who want to understand the limits of states’ ability to carve out their own health-insurance rules. (Wilde Mathews, 2/14)

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is calling for "incremental" health-care reform after the Senate failed to pass an ObamaCare replacement bill last year. Asked on Fox Business on Tuesday if lawmakers will try again to pass an ObamaCare repeal legislation this year, Ryan pointed to incremental changes. (Sullivan, 2/13)

Republicans are taking a piecemeal approach to overhauling the health care law and health policy overall, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said on Tuesday. “There are a lot of things we can do, kind of, incrementally,” the Wisconsin Republican said Tuesday on Fox Business, pointing to the repeal of the penalty for not having coverage in a tax overhaul (PL 115-96) and last week’s budget deal (PL 115-123). That agreement repealed the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which had cost-cutting authority; decreased certain funding under the health care law (PL 111-148, PL 111-152); and added provisions to charge higher-income people receiving Medicare higher outpatient and prescription drug premiums. (McIntire, 2/13)

House Republicans are in discussions about repealing or delaying ObamaCare’s employer mandate to offer health insurance, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said Tuesday. Brady told reporters that he has discussed the idea with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, as well as other members of the Ways and Means Committee. (Sullivan, 2/13)

Lawmakers Tuesday approved Gov. Scott Walker's plan to hold down Obamacare premiums but left for another day how to pay for the $200 million proposal. The Joint Finance Committee also ordered the Walker administration to study bringing back Wisconsin's high-risk insurance pool, which was phased out after the passage of the federal Affordable Care Act. (Stein, 2/13)