ACA Update | October 6, 2017 – The Trump Admin’s ACA Sabotage, a Grass Roots Effort to Counter It, and a Possible New Repeal Threat
Although the cancer community was pleased that the harmful Graham-Cassidy bill failed, the Affordable Care Act is still at great risk. Currently, the Administration is actively undermining the ACA by drastically cutting the budget for enrollment, cutting the time period for open enrollment in half, and cutting outreach and navigator ...
What Caught Our Eye: Cassidy-Graham Repeal Plan; Bipartisan ACA Hearings; Financial Issues for Childhood Survivors; IBM’s Watson Not Living Up to Expectations; and More
What Caught Our Eye (WCOE), September 8, 2017 | What Caught Our Eye is our week-in-review blog series, where we recap the cancer policy articles, studies, and stories that caught our attention. | “Cassidy-Graham: the Obamacare repeal plan McCain is supporting, explained” — The senator who cast the final vote ...
ACA Update | August 25, 2017: Bipartisan ACA Hearings in Sept.; Graham-Cassidy Repeal Plan; Zero Counties Remain Without ACA Insurer
With only one week left of August congressional recess, NCCS is preparing for a busy September. Senators Alexander and Murray are working on bipartisan health care legislation with the goal of helping stabilize the ACA marketplace and ensuring the law’s cost-sharing reductions (CSR) payments. However, Senators Graham, Cassidy and Heller ...
ACA Update | August 18, 2017 – CBO: Cutting CSRs Would Cost Gov’t $194 Billion, Raise Premiums; Trump Admin Funds CSRs for One Month
August recess is typically a quiet time in Washington, but that is not the case this year. Earlier this week, the Congressional Budget Office released an analysis that found that ending cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments, as President Trump has repeatedly threatened, would increase the deficit by $194 billion over 10 ...
ACA Update | August 11, 2017: A Bipartisan Plan for the ACA; and Insurers Say Uncertainty Is Driving Premium Rate Hikes
It has been a relatively quiet week on Capitol Hill with Members of Congress on recess and back in their home states and districts. On Wednesday, a bipartisan health policy coalition announced a plan that they will be presenting to Members of Congress to strengthen and stabilize the ACA, pay ...
ACA Update | July 7, 2017: Senate GOP Try to Tweak ACA Repeal Bill as Dissent Grows During Recess
When Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) decided to delay the vote for the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), there was a collective sigh of relief from the patient community. But our work is far from over. The Senate is still planning to move forward with their attempt to pass ...
ACA Update | June 23, 2017: The Senate GOP Health Care Repeal Bill Is Worse Than We Thought
Yesterday, after weeks of working on their health care repeal bill in secret with no hearings, Senate Republicans released a “discussion draft” of their Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2016 (BCRA). After the House passed their bill (called the AHCA), Senators like Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Health, Education, ...
ACA Update | May 5, 2017: AHCA Passes in House, Now Faces Major Obstacles in Senate
Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA), including an amendment authored by Congressman Tom MacArthur (R-NJ) and brokered with members of the Freedom Caucus, which would allow states to opt out of providing essential health benefits and community rating. Essential health benefits (EHBs) are ten ...
Pre-Existing Conditions and High Risk Pools: A Cancer Survivor’s Experience Purchasing Insurance Before the ACA
My story began ten years ago in April when I was diagnosed with Stage III colon cancer. The treatments were successful in that the cancer cells were eliminated, but my liver was damaged by the toxic effects of the chemotherapy and the radiation. My company was very supportive and I ...
NCCS Statement on CBO Score of the American Health Care Act (AHCA)
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis of the AHCA provides further evidence that this legislation would be devastating for cancer patients. The CBO estimates that compared to the ACA, 14 million more people would be uninsured in 2018. Health care coverage is a leading indicator for cancer outcomes. [...] ...
