ACA Update | Submit Your Comments on Expansion of Harmful Short-Term Health Plans Before Monday, April 23 Deadline - NCCS - National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship

Prior to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), cancer survivors were at the mercy of the health care system, often forced to pay exorbitant premiums or simply denied coverage altogether. Today, America’s 16 million cancer survivors benefit from the ACA’s patient protections that are critical to providing them with quality, affordable, and accessible health care coverage. NCCS is actively engaged in advocating to ensure this unprecedented access for cancer patients and providers continues.

If you haven’t already submitted comments regarding the short-term limited-duration proposed rule, please take 5 minutes to do so before the deadline on Monday night!

NCCS recently hosted a webinar on what these short-term plans mean for cancer survivors. See the webinar blog post for step-by-step instructions on how to submit comments to ensure cancer patients’ voices are heard.

https://canceradvocacy.org/blog/voice-opposition-rule-short-term-limited-duration-coverage/

Another ACA development occurred this week. Last year, the Trump administration halted cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments, which reduced out of pocket spending for consumers. But insurers may get their CSR payments after all, as a federal court has allowed a lawsuit to proceed against the administration over these CSR payments.

Axios explains what’s happening:

President Trump cut off those payments last summer. Insurers raised their premiums to make up for that lost funding stream, and some insurers also sued in an effort to make the government pay up.
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims is allowing that challenge to proceed as a class-action lawsuit.
As University of Michigan law professor and overall Affordable Care Act expert Nicholas Bagley explains, the court said insurers are in the same boat whether or not they made up for lost CSR payments through higher premiums.
So, if the insurers ultimately prevail, the government would have to pay back even the companies that have already offset their losses. That would cost billions of dollars.

The Justice Department can appeal this decision, and the insurers haven’t won their actual legal claim yet. This is a victory for the insurers, but it’s an incremental one, and it could be temporary.

We will keep you updated as the issue develops.

https://canceradvocacy.org/blog/aca-update-3-23-2018/