Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Without Threat Of Tax Penalty, Nearly 20 Percent Of Californians Will Drop Coverage, Study Projects
California's individual health insurance market will probably see a sharp drop in enrollment but should remain stable after Congress eliminated the requirement for individuals to carry coverage, a Harvard-led study published Thursday found. The federal tax reform act in December removed the individual mandate and the financial penalties that consumers faced under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, starting in 2019. (Cosgrove, 3/1)
One in five equates to roughly 378,000 state residents, said Dr. John Hsu, an associate professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, and perhaps not surprisingly, many in that group were people expected to use the health care system least because of their good health. The problem is that no one has a crystal ball, said Peter V. Lee, the executive director of Covered California, the state health insurance marketplace created under the Affordable Care Act. That act also provided that many taxpayers would receive a credit if they signed up for insurance or a penalty if they did not. (Anderson, 3/2)
In other health law news —
Eight years after the Affordable Care Act became law, Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel joined his Texas counterpart last week in filing yet another lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law. (Boulton, 3/2)
