Tag Archives: ACA

House passes first bill to expand the ACA

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About Joanne Kenen

Joanne Kenen, (@JoanneKenen) the health editor at Politico, has been AHCJ’s topic leader on health reform and curated related material at healthjournalism.org. Follow her on Facebook.

Photo: Robert Couse-Baker via Flickr

The House recently passed a health reform bill – and it’s a definite win for the incrementalists.

The Democratic presidential primaries – which now feel like they took place in another universe, long ago and far away – were animated by a significant divide over whether to move to a single-payer “Medicare for All” health care system or to build upon the Affordable Care Act. Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden wants to build on the ACA and favors adding a public option. Continue reading →

Azar case continues to prolong ACA uncertainty

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About Joanne Kenen

Joanne Kenen, (@JoanneKenen) the health editor at Politico, has been AHCJ’s topic leader on health reform and curated related material at healthjournalism.org. Follow her on Facebook.

FPhoto: Thomas Anderson via Flickr

The Supreme Court has declined to take up, on an expedited basis, Texas v. Azar, the conservative states’ lawsuit against the ACA. That doesn’t mean that the case — which argues for scrapping the whole 2010 health law now that the individual mandate penalty has been zeroed out — will never reach the Supreme Court. But it’s now highly unlikely that the high court will rule during President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.

The Supreme Court doesn’t usually take up cases until they’ve worked their way through the lower courts. But as we told you recently, it wasn’t 100 percent clear that they’d follow that tradition in this case. Continue reading →

Tracking the Trump administration’s steps to undermine the ACA

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About Joanne Kenen

Joanne Kenen, (@JoanneKenen) the health editor at Politico, has been AHCJ’s topic leader on health reform and curated related material at healthjournalism.org. Follow her on Facebook.

Photo: Ted Eytan via FlickrA 2017 rally in front of the White House in support of the ACA.

Can’t keep track of all the ways the Trump administration has weakened (many Democrats would say “sabotaged”) the Affordable Care Act?

Here are 14 (and counting) instances, according to a useful graphic from Haeyoun Park and Margot Sanger-Katz of the New York Times’ Upshot.

The most recent is the July 10 announcement slashing funding for ACA enrollment outreach workers, also known as navigators. Continue reading →

The hits keep coming to ACA’s navigator service

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About Joanne Kenen

Joanne Kenen, (@JoanneKenen) the health editor at Politico, has been AHCJ’s topic leader on health reform and curated related material at healthjournalism.org. Follow her on Facebook.

Photo: Rob Briscoe via Flickr

The Trump administration earlier this month slashed funding for ACA navigators – a form of enrollment assistance – for the second consecutive year. For the 2019 enrollment year beginning November 1, the government will provide $10 million, down from $36 million last fall – which was down from $63 million the prior year.

In addition, they changed the rules of the game. In addition to guiding people through ACA market options, the navigators also will help people enroll in the new insurance plans authorized by the Trump administration that do not comply with patient and consumer protections in the ACA – and may well serve to undermine the ACA by drawing younger and healthier people. Continue reading →

ACA-era health care innovation centers under assessment

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About Rebecca Vesely

Rebecca Vesely is AHCJ's topic leader on health information technology and a freelance writer. She has written about health, science and medicine for AFP, the Bay Area News Group, Modern Healthcare, Wired, Scientific American online and many other news outlets.

Photo: Army Medicine via Flickr

It seems like every week there’s a new press release about a new health innovation center opening up shop.

Since passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, which emphasized the transition from patient volume to value, innovation centers have been popping up all over the country. Becker’s Hospital Review has identified at least 50 hospitals with innovation programs. Continue reading →

HHS further reduces role in ACA open enrollment

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About Joanne Kenen

Joanne Kenen, (@JoanneKenen) the health editor at Politico, has been AHCJ’s topic leader on health reform and curated related material at healthjournalism.org. Follow her on Facebook.

HealthCare.gov

Buzzfeed’s Kate Nocera and Paul McLeod last week broke the story that the Trump administration – which has already cut the marketing and navigator budget for the coming shortened open enrollment season – is now pulling out of enrollment events across the country. Its 10 regional directors will not be helping with planning, a break from Obama administration practices. Continue reading →