via the official CNN Democratic Debate Transcript (Part 1, Part 2)
PHILLIP: Let's turn to health care, the top issue for Iowa Democrats. Donald Trump is trying to repeal Obamacare, including the protections for pre-existing conditions. We all know that each of you vigorously opposes that. Still, there are some questions about what each of you would do.
This was the only time throughout the entire healthcare portion of the debate that anyone said a peep about the Texas vs. Azar lawsuit...and it wasn't even one of the candidates; it was the moderator.
Senator Sanders, you have consistently refused to say exactly how much your Medicare For All plan is going to cost. Don't voters deserve to see the price tag before you send them a bill that could cost tens of trillions of dollars?
With the Texas vs. Azar lawsuit (aka #TexasFoldEm) dangling over everyone's heads like the Sword of Damocles, Kaiser Family Foundation CEO Drew Altman has a short piece up over at Axios which notes that the sick irony of this whole stupid situation is that the ACA itself is clearly doing at least reasonably well without the mandate penalty being in place anyway...completely undermining the entire case of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit:
The ACA is doing fine without a mandate penalty
The Affordable Care Act’s insurance market has not been materially affected by the elimination of the individual mandate penalty — undercutting a key argument in the lawsuit urging the courts to strike down the health care law.
Close To 20 Percent Of Access Health CT Customers Still Need To Submit Verification Documents To Stay Covered
Customers can scan and submit verification documents at Enrollment Fairs, via mail or online
Some AHCT customers will receive letters in the mail requesting specific documents to confirm information in their application.
Documents can be submitted online, at an Enrollment Fair where documents can be scanned and uploaded immediately or by mail.
Failure to submit documents by the deadline can result in loss of coverage or financial help.
HARTFORD, Conn. (January 13, 2020)—Open Enrollment to sign up for a 2020 health insurance plan through Access Health CT (AHCT) ends at midnight on Wednesday, January 15, 2020. Connecticut residents can still enroll online, over the phone, or in-person at any of our Enrollment Fairs or five Enrollment Locations—and some might need to submit verification documents.
Located across Colorado, these events provide educational and enrollment information about health insurance coverage, the application process and financial help through Connect for Health Colorado. While you can’t complete enrollment at all of these events, they are a great opportunity to talk with our network of trusted, certified experts and to schedule appointments.
Pueblo Get Covered is hosting an open enrollment on Wed, Jan 15 from 8 am - 5 pm at 230 N Union Ave. Pueblo, CO 81003. For more information call 719-583-6611. Jan 15 is the last day of open enrollment!
I've been reluctant to add Tom Steyer's healthcare plan into my candidate analyses, but like Michael Bloomberg, Steyer has managed to flood the airwaves with well over $100 MILLION of his own money in TV ads and it's at least partly paid off. He's been in a couple of the Democratic debates, and is placing in 2nd or 3rd in a couple of South Carolina primary polls, so I guess he's justified my taking a look at his plan:
Health care is a right for all
Every American has the Right to Health Care. Health is the foundation for a full and productive life. Yet for far too long, the corporate stranglehold on our health care system has kept Americans from accessing and affording the health care they need.
Costs are simply too high. Patients in the United States spend on average $9,892 a year on health care, which is 25% higher than the next highest-cost nation. Predatory drug companies, insurance providers, and hospitals squeeze every last dollar in profit possible from the system. As these corporations deliver skyrocketing returns to shareholders, politicians in Washington, D.C. do nothing to help the hard-working families whose budgets are being held hostage.
This Just In via the New Hampshire Insurance Dept...
Governor Sununu and NH Insurance Department Announce Plan to Reduce Premium Rates, Improve Individual Health Insurance Market
CONCORD, NH – Today, Governor Chris Sununu is announcing that the New Hampshire Insurance Department intends to file a Section 1332 State Relief and Empowerment Waiver application with the federal government to promote stability in the state’s individual health insurance market with an expectation that plan year 2021 premiums will be reduced by approximately 15% over what they would have been otherwise.
18,611 people have selected individual market Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) for 2020
Officially, this is down over 5% vs. last year...however...
...the final official total for the 2019 Open Enrollment Period was only 18,035 due to some last-minute clerical error corrections and/or purging of last-minute cancellations.
...which means that at least for the moment, DC is up 3.2% year over year.
Remember, DC residents can still #GetCovered through the end of January for coverage starting in either February or March, so this number should increase a bit more yet.
Incomplete numbers have been released for California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts and New York, all of which still have ongoing Open Enrollment, and I'm still waiting on any enrollment data for Rhode Island or Vermont.
With all that in mind, here's a state-by-state breakout showing where things stand as of today, Jaunary 9th. The states have been sorted from worst-performing to best, although obviously the 8 states with partial or no data are misleading (vice-versa for the bar graph).
Last year, California passed several important bills related to expanding coverage in their ACA exchange, Covered California. Two of the biggest changes were the expansion of subsidies to middle-class enrollees earning 400-600% FPL (as well as enhancing subsidies for existing enrollees), and the reinstatement of the individual mandate penalty (the revenue from which is actually supposed to be used to help finance the expanded subsidies).
Again, there's still another five full weeks of Open Enrollment in California (six, if you include the missing data from last week). As I've noted, they'll have to add at least 134,000 total enrollees to beat last year, or nearly 200,000 to beat their all-time high. From the looks of things, they're on track to hit that 615K figure in the 200-400% range, but the 400-600% range is gonna be a much steeper climb...which is ironic since that's the population which is eligible for the most dramatic price cuts.
Washington Healthplanfinder Sees More Than 212,000 Sign Ups During 2020 Open Enrollment Period
OLYMPIA, Wash.
Washington Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) today announced more than 212,000 customers selected a 2020 health plan through Washington Healthplanfinder, the state’s online health insurance marketplace. The total number was slightly lower, 3.8 percent, than the nearly 221,000 selections last year.
