Government Healthcare Policy, Business and Technology

Bipartisan effort to stabilize insurance market hits snag over state flexibility

Modern Healthcare: The senior Republican and Democrat on the Senate health committee courteously clashed Tuesday over how much freedom Congress should give states to modify the Affordable Care Act's benefit rules in order to make individual coverage more affordable.Most of the senators and expert witnesses speaking in the third of four planned hearings agreed Congress should swiftly fund payments to insurers for the ACA's cost-sharing reductions for lower-income enrollees, though it wasn't clear that Republicans supported insurers' calls for long-term funding.Disagreement over how much flexibility to give states to redesign the ACA's coverage requirements under state innovation waivers could doom prospects for passage of a stabilization package before the Sept.

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