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CPUd
03-10-2017, 11:39 PM
Key health insurer backs GOP ObamaCare replacement plan

BY MARK HENSCH - 03/10/17 10:57 PM EST 145



America’s second-largest health insurer voiced its support for the ObamaCare repeal and replacement bill proposed by GOP House leaders in a letter to lawmakers this week.

Anthem is urging lawmakers to launch the ObamaCare repeal process “as quickly as possible,” Politico reported Friday.

“[It] addresses the challenges immediately facing the individual market and will ensure more affordable health plan choices for consumers in the short term,” Anthem CEO Joseph Swedish wrote to the chairmen of the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees Thursday, the same day both panels advanced the repeal legislation.

“These provisions are essential and must be finalized quickly to have the intended impact on products and prices to benefit consumers,” he added, citing the bill’s repeal of ObamaCare’s health insurance tax, tax credits for customers off the ObamaCare exchanges and temporarily keeping the law’s cost-sharing subsidies.

Anthem, which is the largest insurer in the ObamaCare exchanges, said it was formulating rates and making decisions for 2018.

Anthem has previously warned it would leave the markets next year if ObamaCare improvements did not occur.

The insurer is additionally pushing for federal approval for its $54 billion acquisition of Cigna, which remains in flux.

House Republicans unveiled their long-awaited legislation for repealing and replacing ObamaCare late Monday. But it quickly drew criticism from conservatives and major healthcare groups.

President Trump has endorsed the bill from House GOP leaders and is urging quick action on implementing it to fulfill his promise of repealing and replacing ObamaCare.

“We must act now to save Americans from the imploding ObamaCare disaster,” he said while meeting House Committee chairmen at the White House Friday.
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/health-reform-implementation/323520-key-health-insurer-backs-gop-obamacare-plan

NorthCarolinaLiberty
03-11-2017, 12:05 AM
This disgusts me no end. Everyone using government goonery to line his pockets. Some people just need their mother f*cking asses beat good.

CPUd
03-11-2017, 12:08 AM
Trumpcare’s Only Fan Is a Massive Insurance Company That Really Needs a Favor Right Now

By Jordan Weissmann


They're into Trumpcare—it's just unclear how much.

By gawd, there's finally someone out there who says they like Trumpcare—or parts of it anyway. Anthem, the nation's second largest health insurer, expressed its support for the Republicans' Obamacare replacement in a letter to the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees, as Morning Consult reports Friday. In the note, CEO Joseph Swedish says that without major changes to the Affordable Care Act, his company will begin to “surgically extract” itself from the individual insurance market in 2018, and that the “time to act is now.”

Anthem has previously said that it might bail on the Obamacare markets in 2018, so this letter doesn't come as a great shock. It's also worth noting, as Politico does, that Anthem has been trying to win approval from Washington to buy up its rival, Cigna—which suggests it has some incentive to play nice with the administration.

The question is whether Anthem really supports the whole Republican plan, or just really likes a few key parts. Swedish writes that, “The American Health Care Act addresses the challenges immediately facing the Individual market and will ensure more affordable health plan choices for consumers in the short term,” then name-checks a few “critically important” provisions. Namely:


"Establishment of the Patient and State Stability Fund" (This would compensate insurers that lose a ton of money on sick patients.)

"Repeal of the ACA’s health insurance tax" (Health insurers don't want to be taxed.)

"Continuation of the Cost Sharing Reduction (CSR) subsidies" (This is complicated, but these federal payments to insurers are basically essential to making Obamacare work, and some have worried Trump would cut them off.)

"Allowing the use of tax credits for ‘off exchange’ health plans.” (That would make it easier for insurers to sell whatever the heck they want.)


In short, health insurer Anthem is very much in favor of the provisions that would be obviously beneficial to the health insurance industry. “These provisions are essential and must be finalized quickly,” Swedish writes.

Does this mean Swedish backs everything in the bill? It's hard to tell. The letter never says anything clear-cut like: “We would like to see the current incarnation of this legislation pass.” And the CEO is silent on one aspect of the bill that's worried other insurers and the industry's major lobbying group—the elimination of Obamacare's requirement that Americans buy insurance or pay a tax penalty, which Republicans would replace with a much weaker provision. Swedish also says Anthem is still “thoroughly reviewing and evaluating the legislation further to better understand the changes to both the Individual market and the Medicaid program.” But in the meantime, the company apparently likes Trumpcare enough to write a mostly supportive letter, and maybe win itself a little goodwill and influence in the process. Someone had to cheer for this thing, eventually.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2017/03/10/anthem_says_it_supports_parts_of_trumpcare.html

NorthCarolinaLiberty
03-11-2017, 12:13 AM
..


Yes, I am sure our resident T-boy will be all over this because Trump, Trump, Trump--blah, blah, blah. I don't need an article from f*cking libtard Slate Magazine to tell me how to think. Dumbasses.
He'll post endlessly cute pictures and "tweets" and other nonsense. Funny how I didn't see the T-boys complaining when Obama was presenting this.

CPUd
03-11-2017, 12:15 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0FyXLQfQ5w

CPUd
03-12-2017, 08:32 PM
AHCA makes it through second House committee: What's next?
Written by Kelly Gooch | March 10, 2017 | Print | Email


The American Health Care Act is gaining traction in the House, The New York Times reports.

After lengthy sessions, the legislation gained approval Thursday in the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees, according to the article. The votes were along party lines.

"Today marks the beginning of the end of Obamacare," House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said after the votes, according to The New York Times.

The House Budget Committee is expected to take up the AHCA next week prior to a full House vote slated for later in March, according to the report.

The votes come as House Republicans' ACA replacement proposal has been under fire by some conservative groups. President Donald Trump, who endorsed the AHCA, met Wednesday with some of these conservative opponents, which reportedly include the Heritage Foundation and Americans for Prosperity. The president has also met with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who has expressed caution over the AHCA, according to the report.

Every major hospital entity in the U.S. has expressed opposition to the measure.
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/ahca-makes-it-through-second-house-committee-what-s-next.html