HEALTHCARE/HHS/OBAMACARE(ACA)/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Idaho officials said they will begin allowing insurers to sell new plans that don’t meet requirements set by the Affordable Care Act, a move that will test the limits of states’ ability to carve out their own health-insurance rules under the Trump administration.
In a bulletin issued Wednesday [1-25-18], the Idaho Department of Insurance said that it would allow insurers in the state to begin offering ‘state-based plans’ to consumers. These products could leave out some of the benefits mandated by the ACA for individual coverage. Insurers would be able to consider enrollees’ medical history in setting their premiums, a practice known as underwriting, which isn’t authorized under the ACA. The new state-based plans could also include dollar limits on total benefit payouts, which the ACA banned.
Health-policy experts said it isn’t clear that the state has the authority to allow such products, or that it would be legal under federal law for insurers to sell them…
The state’s move will put a spotlight on the federal Department of Health and Human Services and provide an early test of its newly confirmed, incoming leader, Alex Azar, who has criticized the ACA in the past but is now in charge of enforcing it. Mr. Azar has been expected to play a central role in Trump administration efforts to roll back the federal health law.
A spokesman for HHS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment late Wednesday.”
-Anna Wilde Mathews, “Idaho to Allow New Insurance Plans Outside of Federal Health Law,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 25, 2018 02:24pm