�Թϲ�����

Having wiped out the requirement for people to have health insurance, Republicans in Congress are taking aim at a new target: the mandate in the Affordable Care Act that employers offer coverage to employees. And many employers are cheering the effort. (Pear, 1/14)

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander said Friday the bipartisan health care reform measure he’s sponsored with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray is expected to pass through Congress as part of the omnibus spending bill in February or March. “The president supports it. He asked me about it twice while he was here in Nashville (on Monday),” Tennessee's senior senator said during an interview at The Tennessean's offices. “(Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell) reiterated his support for it this week. The vice president did the same.” (Buie, 1/12)

The Trump administration's next swipe at relaxing Affordable Care Act regulations could come any day now. The Office of Management and Budget has been reviewing an HHS proposal aimed at making it easier for consumers to buy short-term insurance plans. It's part of the administration's overall goal of giving individuals and businesses access to cheaper health plans, albeit with fewer benefits and consumer protections. ... Under the HHS proposal, consumers could buy short-term plans for up to 364 days, compared to 90 days under current law. (Meyer, 1/10)

The number of Americans without health coverage, which declined for years after passage of the Affordable Care Act, shot up in President Trump's first year in office, according to data from a new national survey. At the end of 2017, 12.2% of U.S. adults lacked health insurance, up from 10.9% at the end of 2016, as President Obama was completing his final term. (Levey, 1/16)

Washington state is on pace to increase the number of people with health insurance despite efforts by the Republican Congress and the Trump administration to gut the laws known as Obamacare that expanded insurance coverage across the nation. So far consumers have selected 234,000 plans during Washington Health Benefit Exchange’s 2018 enrollment period, which ends Monday. That’s 9,000 more than last year. Of the 225,000 plans picked for the 2017 enrollment period, 204,000 followed through to purchase the coverage. (Blethen, 1/13)

Mid-January marks the start of tax season, and health care items throughout the past year can impact how you file your taxes. This time of year typically creates a lot of consumer confusion, and getting all the facts straight can be tricky. With the repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate recently in the news, this topic is certain to cause particular issues this year. Aside from the individual mandate, other health care expenses can also affect your tax return, including Health Savings Accounts and high-cost medical expenses. (Tolbert, 1/12)

As consumers approach a Sunday deadline for buying coverage through MNsure, state officials say there’s a glimmer of hope for less volatility in the troubled market where individuals buy health insurance. A report released Friday by the Minnesota Department of Health details “some cause for optimism” based on partial-year information suggesting individual market insurers last year weren’t losing nearly as much money compared with previous years, and might instead post a small profit. (Snowbeck, 1/12)

The long-suffering market where individuals buy health insurance continues to show signs of improvement. A series of national reports this month show that individual market insurers through the first three quarters of 2017 were doing a much better job covering claims with premium revenue than in previous years. The improvement suggests that after years of red ink, carriers could soon see financial results on the horizon ranging from break-even to small profits. (Snowbeck, 1/12)