Trump's health care executive order: Pros & Cons For Agents & Consumers

[Yagents]

He was looking at your picture, the one with your mouth open

 

[junkman]

What does ***Face mean?

There is an adjective that was censored. I think Trump is a thief among other negatives and censorship is probably appropriate (in this case on a public forum).

 

[Yagents]

Good rundown on our world under Trump

How Agents Can Prosper As Obamacare Becomes Trumpcare

And the IRS will NOT be looking the other way this year

ACA Information Center for Tax Professionals | Internal Revenue Service

IRS Changes Position, Will Not Accept Tax Returns Which Are Silent On Healthcare Coverage

In fact, in September of this year, the IRS started sending letters to about 130,000 taxpayers who didn’t address the health care requirement on 2014 and/or 2015 tax returns.

 

[BADTROUT]

Good... even if you don't love the law of the land we far too often only enforce the convenient ones. If you don't like it, tell your congressman. Many bought coverage they didn't want only to hear that others just decided to take a lightly or non enforced penalty... they out to take all the money the are wasting in the fight, build a regional hospital in every state like the VA and a scattering of clinics throughout the state, then just let government healthcare compete with private healthcare. Insurance comes full circle to protect the consumer and government gets out of the middle of insurance and starts competing with the pharma, the doctors and hospitals driving all the outrageous costs.

 

[AllenChicago]

HHS is so exhausted from publishing this HUGE ObamaCare rule, that they've forgotten about last month's Trump Executive Order, it seems.

Federal Register :: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; HHS Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2019

The STM reversal back to 12 months should be something that can be done overnight. Queen Burwell limited it to 90 days without any advance notification. Though she did allow a 4 month grace period before that limitation took effect.

 

[AllenChicago]

January 4, 2018

Finally..the Association Health Plan rule is published for comment.

""Wasting little time at the start of the new year, the Trump administration has proposed its first rule resulting from the president’s October 12, 2017 executive order on healthcare.

The rule, released Thursday by the Department of Labor (DOL), addresses the executive order’s direction to expand the use of association health plans (AHPs).

AHPs, through which small businesses can join associations based on professional, trade or interest groups, are not a new concept. But the regulations would change the rules about which type of groups and individuals can join them.

For one, employers would be allowed to form an AHP—and thus purchase insurance in the large-group market—on the basis of either industry or geography. For example, a health plan could serve employers in a state, city, county, or a multistate metro area, or it could serve all the businesses in a given industry nationwide, per a DOL press release.

The new regulations would also allow sole proprietors to join AHPs, “clearing a path to access health insurance for the millions of uninsured Americans who are sole proprietors or the family of sole proprietors,” the department said.""

Source Article: Trump administration proposes new rule that would expand use of association health plans | FierceHealthcare

The New York Times (Liberal view): Trump Proposes New Health Plan Options for Small Businesses

Link to the Proposed Rule (83 pages): https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2017-28103.pdf

I hope that HHS will be publishing the Short Term Medical rule in the near future. How hard can it be to simply reverse what Obama's HHS did by reducing STM max duration from 12 months to 3 months? Should have been done already.

-ac

 

[scagnt83]

We will see if the carriers jump on board with this. Who is still offering association health plans?

In the past they have mostly been trainwrecks. But in the current environment, they might be sustainable. Especially if they can take away a good bit of the CHS business.

The real question is how "broad" will they allow the associations to be?
If the scope is too narrow then it will be a bust. If they can make it very broad, then perhaps it has a chance.

But group insurance is still pretty damn expensive if your paying 100% of the cost. For the majority of people, its downright unaffordable without assistance from their employer. So Id worry about how many would actually sign up. Most people in their 50s cant afford $1k per month for health insurance.

 

[Yagents]

I'm concerned with how independent agents can be involved in these AHP transactions.
I see mafia/union style favoritism to the biggest agencies, leaving the little guy out.
I'm sure the Natl Assoc of Realtors already has a some big agency in mind.

 

[junkman]

Association plans go belly up. Either heavy underwriting, low cherry picked insurer's, closed when pool gets dirty and rates go through the roof. Rinse, repeat.

Carriers and TPAs could set them up over the weekend. Paperwork says "underwritten by.....entrr name of stoploss carrier ". Sick insurer's get stuck with no place to go.

*** trump.

 

[scagnt83]

Association plans go belly up. Either heavy underwriting, low cherry picked insurer's, closed when pool gets dirty and rates go through the roof. Rinse, repeat.

Carriers and TPAs could set them up over the weekend. Paperwork says "underwritten by.....entrr name of stoploss carrier ". Sick insurer's get stuck with no place to go.

*** trump.

Those are the reasons the pool (association) needs to be as broad as possible. Start a "National Association for Small Business Employees" .... that would cover pretty much everyone that would be interested in an AHP.