This week, the US Census Bureau released health insurance coverage estimates for 2017. Between 2016 and 2017, the overall uninsured rate did not change significantly, but 14 states experienced an increase in the number of uninsured individuals, due to poverty status or whether the state expanded Medicaid. While coverage numbers dropped in many states, the Trump Administration continues to cut ACA navigator funding, which [...]

Washington, DC – NCCS applauds the efforts of Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and 30 of her colleagues to advance a resolution blocking the final rule permitting expansion of short-term plans. The final rule extending the availability of short-term plans will put more Americans at risk of purchasing junk insurance plans and will also undermine the individual insurance markets on which many people with cancer rely. “NCCS considers these new short-term plans a serious threat,” [...]

Trump Admin Continues Push to Make Short-Term Health Plans More Acceptable — On Wednesday, the Trump administration made it easier for short-term plans to reach more consumers in another move to try to halt further ACA progress. While short-term plans are inexpensive, they do not cover pre-existing conditions and the range for medical services is much more limited. [...]

CMS Resumes ACA Risk Adjustment Payments — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it will continue payments—amounting to $10.4 billion—to the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) risk-adjustment program. The program was established to ensure that risk is spread across insurance companies. Recently, in one of the many efforts to dismantle the ACA, CMS announced that it would halt the payments, [...]