Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump's Promise Of Inexpensive Health Plans Comes With A Dark Underbelly
In signing a recent executive order, President Trump promised that millions of Americans could soon obtain 鈥済reat, great health care鈥 through inexpensive plans that offer consumers options they had been denied under the Affordable Care Act. But these health plans, created for small businesses, have a darker side: They have a long history of fraud and abuse that have left employers and employees with hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid medical bills. (Pear, 10/21)
For most people, the biggest attraction in the bipartisan health care bill in the Senate is the renewal of federal cost-sharing payments to insurers, which President Trump recently cut off.聽 ...The Senate bill would expand the use of so-called 鈥渃atastrophic鈥欌 health plans for individuals. Currently only young adults up to age 30 or those who qualify for 鈥渉ardship waivers鈥欌 can buy them. (Miller, 10/22)
An attempt by 19 states to force President Donald Trump to pay health care subsidies will go before a federal judge in San Francisco. State attorneys general, led by California Democrat Xavier Becerra, will try on Monday to convince U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria that the payments are required by law. (10/23)