In April 2018, the Trump administrations rewrote rules for health care plans that were sold though the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. These new rules added some exemptions from the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) previous requirements. The changes will take effect for the ACA health plans to be sold fall 2018 but for 2019 coverage. The rules include important decisions to states that will allow consumers to buy health plans at a lower rate, which will ultimately increase the number of people who buy health plans. This article states many advantages for consumers because of the new changes Trump administration has made to the ACA.
Changes Made to the Affordable Care Act
There have been several changes to the rules made that is going to benefit many people. On the other side of the spectrum some of these changes are going to make a lot of people mad. The majority of these changes are going to benefit the lower income population because it is ultimately trying to help people be able to afford coverage. For the people who already have coverage and can afford it not many things are going to change. Federal health officials and researchers have shown that half of United States counties only have one ACA insurer in 2018 (Goldstein, 2018). That is saying there are not many people who use the ACA in the United States.
Since the administration rewrote some rules it turned the control from the federal government to states which is giving Americans opportunities to avoid penalties form not having insurance. With this change, it is giving citizens the choice to be covered or not because they are no longer going to get in trouble for not being covered. This new rule is possible because it provides a couple exemptions from the ACA’s requirements which were that every consumer had to be insured. They no longer have to be covered with this change. For the fact that only half of the U.S counties only have one ACA insurers, people who live in those areas are now able to apply for a hardship exemption.
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The rules will devolve several significant decisions to states, which is a strategy that will create flexibility and lighten regulations to allow consumers to buy health care plans at a lower cost, according to Seema Verma, (Goldstein, 2018). This will allow insurers to be less harsh on all the regulation, which will make the price of health care plans cheaper for consumers. Since these changes with not take affect until 2019 Seem Verma who is a CMS Administrator made the statement, “Until the law changes, we will not stand idly by as Americans suffer” (Goldstein, 2018). She is saying that they are going to try and help people as soon as they can because Americans are suffering right now, and some need help before 2019.
One significant change that is being made involves health benefits that the ACA requires for health care plans. This change allows fewer doctors and it will cover fewer prescription drugs. There will be a list of select doctors and prescriptions that would be covered by the ACA. If the doctor or prescription is not on the list, then it would not be covered. This will give some limitations to the people who have to take advantage of the ACA.
These new rules untimely weaken the network of consumer assisters who is funded by the Department of Health and Human Services. These changes removed the requirement that every area has two or more navigator groups and that one of them be local. Also, insurers will no longer be required to dedicate 80 percent of their income to the care of costumers only if they are able to prove that a higher profile could improve their financial stability. There are 39 states that rely on the federal insurance exchange and the government is turning the responsibly to ensure that the marketplace plans have enough providers of care in their network over to them. Insurers are also no longer required to provide a standardized set of benefits. This was previously urged by the Obama administration in an attempt to help consumers comparison shop.
Overall these rules were upgraded to help consumers in many ways such as benefits, shopping for coverage and lowering prices. In 2016 a change underwent because insurers wanted to raise their premiums by ten percent. Previously insurers had to provide lists of drugs and the amount of coverage along with restrictions on consumers’ ability to get the drugs. Then in 2017 the rules made rating system for the number of providers in a network so that the consumers could compare one marketplace to another. This gives the consumers a couple of choices and will give them the best plan in which they can afford.
Reactions to the New Changes
According to this article there has only been good reactions about these changes to the ACA. Although, a CMS administrator during the Obama administration opposed and said that the current administration “is making it clear that they are implementing a law that they have no intention of making succeed.” Slavitt also stated the revisions were “a gift to the insurance companies by finding lots of ways for them to get around the standards American have come to expect”, (Goldstein, 2018). Which is true; the insurance companies are greatly benefiting from these changes because they are going to be numerous ways to get around the old requirements.
Conclusion
It seems like these changes are going to make a positive impact and will allow more consumers to be covered. These rules that the Trump administrations have come up with are going to make it easier and cheaper for people to become insured. Although, they will be limited to certain providers and prescriptions that will be covered under these plans, they will at least have some coverage. The lower income population and insurers are going to be the ones they benefit the most from these changes. Higher income people are already insured and do not take advantage of Medicare and Medicaid that fall under the Affordable care act. These are changes that will be put in place for the coverage of people in 2019 so until then the old policy will remain in place.
