health care

Study: Trump’s actions are directly responsible for rising health care premiums

Donald Trump, health care, News, politics

Despite the repeated failure of Republicans in Congress to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, Trump has succeeded in raising health care premiums.

A number of insurers who provide coverage through the Obamacare marketplaces have requested double digit rate increases for the coming year, and the majority cite uncertainty about the actions of the Trump administrations as the reason for the requested increases, according to a new study released Thursday.

The study, from...

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Abandoning Latino Obamacare outreach is poor policy planning

Donald Trump, health, health care, News, obamacare

Key members of the Latino Affordable Care Act (ACA) outreach coalition told Talking Points Memo the Trump administration has not reached out to begin preparing for open enrollment that begins November 1st.

By this point last year, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and other major Latino organizations, like the National Hispanic Medical Association and National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and Concilio, would be in the midst of enrollment frenzy. But th...

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How Obamacare enrollees could avoid skyrocketing premiums

health care, News, obamacare

“Rising premiums” has been the rallying cry for Republicans looking to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Lawmakers pointed to 2018 premium hikes as a big reason to repeal and replace current health law. Some insurance companies are requesting especially high rates for 2018 ACA plans, as high as 30 percent or more in some states.

In California, statewide premiums will rise 12.5 percent, and some northern counties will see a 33 percent increase. But most California res...

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Trump administration moves closer to effectively banning patients from suing nursing homes

health, health care, News

Advocate groups are rallying to protect an Obama-era rule that would give patients and their families the right to sue long-term care facilities. The Trump administration has threatened to roll back the rule and implement revisions that would make filing such suits virtually impossible.

The rule specifically states that facilities that rely on Medicaid or Medicare may no longer use forced arbitration clauses in their patient agreements. Forced arbitration, which nearly all facilitie...

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Interior Department investigating Zinke for reportedly threatening senators over Trumpcare votes

climate, health care, News, politics, Trump administration

The Interior Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has launched a “preliminary investigation” over reports that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke threatened to pull funding from Alaskan energy projects if Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) didn’t vote in support of President Donald Trump’s health care proposal.

“The OIG is undertaking a preliminary investigation into this matter,” Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall sai...

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Maine asks Trump for permission to start charging Medicaid recipients premiums

Donald Trump, health, health care, medicaid, News, tom-price

Maine could be among the first states to fundamentally change its Medicaid program by requiring low-income adults to meet work requirements and pay monthly premiums, if the state’s requests are approved by the Trump administration.

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services filed an application to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Wednesday evening, requesting core changes to its Medicaid program, dubbed MaineCare.<...

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