Inspector General Probes Trump Administrations Move To Pull Obamacare Enrollment Ads

[DonViejo]

Source: Huffington Post



03/25/2017 02:23 am ET | Updated 1 hour ago

Inspector General Probes Trump Administration’s Move To Pull Obamacare Enrollment Ads

Halting outreach for ACA enrollment could “contribute to weakening healthcare marketplaces and raising costs,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren says.

By Mary Papenfuss

The Department of Health and Human Services inspector general has launched an investigation into the Trump administration’s decision to pull ads encouraging people to sign up for the Affordable Care Act during the enrollment period. By shutting down such outreach, the action could be seen as a stealth way to starve the health plan without legislative authority, critics say.

President Donald Trump’s administration said the ads were a waste of money, but Democrats have characterized the action as sabotage.

In response to a request to investigate the actions from Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the inspector general said his office is conducting a “fact-finding” review, the Hill reported.

The office will examine exactly what was done and when by the administration, and its effect on enrollment in the health plan, according to a letter written to the senators Thursday. Dwindling numbers of consumers enrolled in any insurance undermines an affordable risk pool.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/inspector-general-trump-health_us_58d5fc2de4b03692bea63ff9?

[Jonny Appleseed]

1. Wow I didn't know there were rules (laws? if not who cares? not the Trump adm) against sabotaging

legislation for political gain. I would've thunk the republicans would nix that one first.

[progree]

5. Unfortunately not

There's the risk corridors thing that Repubs in Congress have been sabotaging since 2015 (I realize that's Congress, not the Trump admin).

The Real Reason Why Obamacare Premiums Have Gone Up So Much
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028846942

[hr][hr]
Here's some ways the Trump admin itself is sabotaging the ACA:

House Pulls GOP Health Insurance Bill, but Some Changes Already Are Underway, [font color = blue]Consumer Reports[/font], 3/24/17

“The Trump administration has a great deal of flexibility to make changes that don’t require congressional approval,” says Elizabeth Carpenter, a senior vice president at Avalere Health, a healthcare consulting company.

The changes could result in sharply higher premiums and less coverage for many. For example, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has said he wants to water down regulations requiring insurers to offer comprehensive coverage in 10 areas, including maternity care, prescription drugs and mental health services.

Without the help of Congress, President Trump is limited in how much he can change the ACA. But here’s a rundown of what his administration already is doing to reshape parts of the current law.

I'm about at the four paragraph limit, so I will just bulletpoint the remaining items. The rest of the article gets into things like the below (the first three have already been done):

* watering down the individual mandate (which he did by forcing the IRS to process returns where the filer didn't check off the box certifying the filer had insurance).

* halting TV ads encouraging enrollment 5 days before open enrollment ended

* making it harder for people who have a change in circumstance from enrolling outside the open enrollment period

* on the 10 essential benefits - HHS Secretary Price can't simply get rid of them without legislation, but he can issue new regulations that more narrowly define what coverage means. That could lead to junk insurance being marketed.

* The article ends with a run-down of insurance companies leaving many ACA marketplaces (mostly because of the lack of the promised risk corridors funding)

[hr][hr]
I read that Congress can defund the ACA's cost-sharing subsidies (for those making less than 200% of poverty)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/obamacare-exploding-maybe-just-slow-burn-002606911--finance.html

but the political risks for the Repubs are considerable if they do that...

The cost-sharing subsidies are different than the much better-known premium subsidies (which go up to 400% of poverty).

[bitterross]

7. +1000 - No Doubt!

That would probably be easier than the ethics gutting they attempted.

[DK504]

18. That's how we got him in,

sabotaging the election.

Until we get him out this will continue. Can Pence really hold his nose much longer?

[truthisfreedom]

2. Saboteur in chief?

[RDANGELO]

3. I was thinking about that just a couple of hours ago.

If sabotaging the ACA, is something the Inspector General could look into. I got my answer.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. "I alone can sabotage it."

He is simply perverse. He upends everything he encounters to suit his prestige, power, and ego.

[notdarkyet]

11. He hates America.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. It's all part of Republicon effort to sabotage ObamaCare. They must be made to own up to sabotage.nt

[JudyM]

15. It's more complicated to explain, tougher to energize revolutionary attendance at town halls...

but we need to try. I'm hoping people are now awake enough to get its importance. Waiting for our congressional leaders to start really putting this out there.

[NastyRiffraff]

8. No wonder Dump was snickering

about how Obamacare will "explode." He doesn't give a shit about the American people. He's a vindictive, malicious monster.

[cstanleytech]

12. Yup, the only way it would explode is if the Repugnants like Trump sabotage it. nt

[JudyM]

16. Which is likely, if not definite.

We all need to rise up again.

[Sunlei]

9. obvious Republicans don't want people to enroll on the healthcareDOTgov website

google search will bring up several websites with slightly different name and some with DOTcom instead of DOTgov.

Today anyone can go to healthcare.gov, put in your zipcode and check out insurance plans.

Easy to use website, can 'guesstimate' your yearly salary and see what kind of assistance you can have with lowering your premium payment.

Can call them for live help, and it's real help not some insurance salesman trying to sell a plan to you because they get a bonus on sales.

Our elected Ds are aware Rs undermine and try to wreck Americans ACA.

Here's what Ds said Friday to USA today,

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Friday that Democrats are willing to work with Republicans to improve Obamacare, but only if Republicans stop trying to gut the law.

“If they take repeal off the table, we're willing to sit down with them and improve Obamacare,” Schumer told CNN. “It's doing a good job, but there are places that it can be improved. No question about it.”

[crazylikafox]

10. Can the Inspector General operate independently of the head of HHS?

Price, the saboteur in chief, is head of that department.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. That is their purpose

to act independently.

The current one is a Shrub appointee and has been there since 2005.

[crazylikafox]

14. Good news. Thanks. I didn't know that

[BumRushDaShow]

17. Hate to say but

you might recall when the IG for the State Department did their own internal investigation of the "Clinton emails" and issued a somewhat scathing final report (although acknowledging similar issues with previous SOSs), so they are there to audit.

[Marcuse]

19. ACA suppression looks like voting suppression.

Same philosophy. Same mechanics.

[babylonsister]

20. Spread this around! nt