09/19/2017
Colorado and National Legislative Updates:
Ouch!!!
Colorado
-On-Average 27 Percent Hike in Individual Health Premiums for 2018
The Colorado Division of Insurance has approved both the individual and small group health insurance plans for 2018. The increase for individual-market health insurance premiums will be on- average 26.7 percent in 2018. Actual approved percentage changes by insurer range from an approved low of 11.5 percent for Rocky Mountain HMO, to an approved high of 33.5 percent for Anthem.
Each of the on-exchange insurance providers from 2017 will be offering on-change health insurance plans again in 2018. The percentage of change requested and the percentage of change approved by the Division of Insurance are tabled in the DORA link below. Premiums approved for the individual market each reflect rates that assume that the Cost Sharing Reductions continue to be funded in 2018.i
Read more at DORA. Read more in the Denver Business Journal.
-Donna Lynne makes it official, enters Colorado governor’s race Colorado Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne announced Thursday she is entering the governor’s race in 2018, touting her experience and an extension of the current Democratic administration.
Her decision, first reported Wednesday by The Denver Post, comes a month after she filed paperwork as a candidate but declined to commit to the race because she wanted to secure the support necessary to mount a campaign in the crowded Democratic primary.
Gov. John Hickenlooper picked Lynne, a former health insurance company executive, for the state’s No. 2 ranking job in March 2016. Lynne initially said she wouldn’t run to succeed him in two years, but now she enters the race with Hickenlooper’s support and the power of the office to help boost her bid.
“I have seen how our government works, and I know what we need in the next governor,” Lynne said in front of family and friends at a cafe near the state Capitol. “We made tremendous progress under Gov. John Hickenlooper but there is more that we can do.”
A first-time candidate with no political base of support, Lynne faces a difficult challenge in her bid to top four prominent challengers — businessman Noel Ginsburg, former state Sen. Mike Johnston, former state Treasurer Cary Kennedy and U.S. Rep. Jared Polis — who have been securing support and raising money for months now.
Her campaign is aimed at moderate Democrats, and she is expected to court business leaders, tapping her experience as the former president of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Colorado.
“I think I’m the pragmatic person (in this race) with more experience than any other candidate in managing millions of dollars of budgets, large organizations … and I think that really matters,” she told reporters after the announcement. “I know policy but I also know how to get things done.”
In her current role, Lynne also serves as the state’s chief operating officer. She said she will keep the job, in addition to her role as lieutenant governor, and continue to lead the administration’s efforts on health care. The moment she made her announcement, Hickenlooper was testifying in Washington on a health care plan that Lynne helped draft with other governors, including Ohio’s Republican Gov. John Kasich.ii
National
-State of Reform and Potential Next Steps for Congress
With Congress back in session after its summer recess, both the House and Senate are working to address several high priority issues – including some, such as the budget resolution to repeal and replace some parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), that require action by the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30. At this point, the ACA remains the law of the land, despite several attempts within Congress to pass a repeal bill under the 2017 budget reconciliation process. While health care talks are ongoing in the Senate, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee also began holding bipartisan hearings the week of Sept. 4 to discuss “actions Congress should take to stabilize and strengthen the individual health insurance market” in 2018. These hearings, while specifically focused on the Marketplaces, may play a role in shaping future repeal and replace efforts.
Legislative Focus In addition to any new proposals and ideas that may come from the hearings, the American Health Care Act passed in the House on May 4 and bills proposed in the Senate all include several common themes that highlight the Republican legislative focus for health care reform. Since repeal, delay or modification of the provisions listed below have historically been included in draft legislation, it’s anticipated any future Republican-led proposals in the Senate will continue to focus on:
· Individual and employer mandate penalties
· Medicaid expansion
· ACA fees and taxes
· Premium subsidies and cost-sharing reductions (CSRs)
· Continuous coverage requirements
· Age-band ratios
· State waivers
· HSA/FSA enhancements
Potential Next Steps As the debate around whether to repeal, replace, or modify the ACA continues, it is unclear what Congress’s next steps will be. Congress could continue to pursue the repeal and replace strategy under the budget reconciliation process, propose changes to the ACA through comprehensive tax reform legislation, or attempt a bipartisan effort to “fix” the ACA. No matter which path it pursues, an identical bill must pass both the House and the Senate before the President can sign it into law.
Republican leadership in Congress or the Administration may also pursue other ways to dismantle, replace or reform the ACA including regulatory action, regulatory non-enforcement or other options.
ACA Compliance Required Unless and until official guidance to the contrary is issued, ACA compliance is required. For more information on ongoing ACA compliance requirements please read our eNewsletter, Reform360.
Staying Informed To stay up to date on the evolving state of health care reform, visit our new Repeal and Replace Update webpage on www.InformedonReform.com. This page offers a snapshot of the latest regulatory and legislative activity.iii
-House and Senate Reintroduce Legislation to Change the ACA’s 30-Hour Workweek Rule to 40-Hours Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joe Donnelly (D-IN) introduced S. 1782, and on Thursday Representatives Jackie Walorski (R-IN) and Dan Lipinski (D-IL) introduced H.R. 3798, the Forty Hours is Full Time Act. This is the third iteration of the legislation, after having been introduced in both the 113th and 114th Congress and not received consideration on the Senate floor. The House version from the last session of Congress, H.R. 40, was passed out of the chamber almost immediately after the session was called to order, but quickly hit a roadblock in the Senate where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) opted not to bring it up due to the lack of votes for passage. The legislation still faces some of the same challenges as it did in previous sessions of Congress, but because a full repeal/replace of the ACA has not occurred and is not expected to happen anytime soon, moderate members from both parties may be more willing to support the bill.
NAHU believes that the 30-hour workweek requirement is hurting both American employees and the companies that drive economic productivity. That’s why we are again strongly urging bipartisan support on the legislation to demonstrate the importance of changing the workweek back to 40 hours for employers who are burdened with the extensive tracking of employee hours as well as employees who are seeing their hours slashed and paychecks reduced. NAHU will be spending an Operation Shout on this bill shortly, and we encourage you to help spread the message of the importance of the legislation by emailing your senators and asking them to co-sponsor and vote for the 40 hours bills.i
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