Insurance has become a hot topic recently. With Congress working on a repeal of the ACA, and tax cuts that may affect Medicare and Medicaid, I’ll try to keep you up-to-date on what’s going on Washington and Illinois!
JUST IN! June 27, 2017. Senator McConnel has delayed a vote on the Senate Healthcare bill until after the July 4 recess.
June 26, 20117. CBO Scores the Senate Health Care Bill
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a non-partisan group that produces independent analyses of budgetary and economic issues. They have just announced their score for the Senate Healthcare Bill (The Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017).
Slate.com published an infographic that helps people understand some of the salient points of the CBO score. Here are a few facts from that graphic:
According to the Congressional Budget office, if you are older, rely on Medicaid or are not extremely wealthy, you will be a big loser under the Senate Health Care Bill.
- 15 million fewer people will be insured in 2018. By 2026 that number is expected to rise to 22 million.
- By 2026, $772 billion will be cut from Medicaid, along with a $424 billion cut from insurance subsidies.
- Four million people will lose employer-provided plans in 2018.
- Deductibles will go up. Under the ACA, tax credits helped people buy a plan that covered 70% of their health care costs. The Senate bill will help them buy a plan that covers 58% of their costs.
- The Good News is that the wealthiest Americans will get $172 billion in tax cuts by 2026 and insurers will get $145 billion in tax cuts.
A real-world example: By Slate’s estimate, a 64-year-old making $56,800 could see silver plan premiums go from $6,800 to $20,500.
Or to put it another way. The CBO score says that in 2026 if we leave Obama care the way it is, we will have 28 million uninsured.
If we use the bill the Senate wants to pass we will have 49 million uninsured.
Ten million people are currently on the marketplace. Seventy million are currently on Medicaid.
For those intrepid souls, who want to read the entire CBO document, you can see it on their website at www.cbo.gov
Judge Rules Illinois Must Negotiate Medicaid Debts.
From Nahu June 8, 2017…
The AP (6/8) reports, “A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Illinois isn’t in compliance with court orders to pay health care bills for low-income and other vulnerable groups as the state heads into a third year without a budget, though she did not order the state to pay $2 billion in unpaid Medicaid bills immediately and in full.” Instead, the AP says, the judge “instructed attorneys for the state and for Medicaid recipients to negotiate an agreement on a level of payment that would ensure critical medical care isn’t jeopardized.”
The Chicago Tribune (6/8, Geiger) reports that the judge ordered the state “to make a ‘substantial’ dent” in the $2 billion backlog, adding, “The ruling came in response to complaints from patients who said the state was falling behind on the payments as it tries to manage its cash flow.”