HEALTHCARE/OBAMACARE(ACA)/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Consumer groups and some state officials, facing new pressure to show the Affordable Care Act remains in place after President Donald Trump declared it dead, have begun launching urgent outreach programs to sign people up for health coverage during the coming open-enrollment period.
The ACA’s fifth open-enrollment season, which this year runs Nov. 1 through Dec. 15, may be lackluster compared with previous years because the administration has cut the time period in half and cut about $116 million in funding for outreach and advertising. As a result, advocacy groups are mounting on-the-ground efforts aimed at telling consumers they can still get coverage and subsidies despite recent efforts to undo the law.
Robust sign-ups are essential to keeping consumers’ insurance premiums from rising, and insurers from exiting the individual market, where people buy coverage if they don’t get it through work. That market especially counts on younger and healthier people to offset the costs of sicker and older consumers.”
-Stephanie Armour and Michelle Hackman, “Health Advocates Gear Up for Open Enrollment,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 22, 2017 09:00am