State Healthcare

Governor Hogan, legislative leaders press Congress for help stabilizing Obamacare market

The Baltimore Sun: Describing recent health insurance premium increases in Maryland as “unsustainable,” Gov. Larry Hogan and the state’s legislative leaders on Wednesday embraced the idea of a federal reinsurance program that would help offset the expense of the sickest patients.

In a letter to Maryland’s mostly Democratic congressional delegation, the Republican governor said the state is working to address premium increases caused by “recent federal actions,” but said the state has limited power to stem rate increases for the approximately 150,000 people buying private coverage through the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

The letter comes as a bipartisan contingent in Congress is considering a federal reinsurance plan, which could potentially be attached to a must-pass federal spending bill later this month. The program would subsidize insurers with a high share of costly patients, mitigating the need for premium increases.

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