Here are five things to know.
1. The cost-sharing reductions help offset the price of providing discounted deductibles to low-income individuals purchasing health plans on the ACA marketplace, and amounted to $7 billion last year. The uncertainty around the subsidies has pushed some health plans to prepare for multiple scenarios, including premium hikes reaching 30 percent, the report states.
2. The payers in attendance “reiterated our most pressing concern: the instability in the individual market created by the uncertainty of funding,” America’s Health Insurance Plans, one of the industry’s largest trade groups, said in a statement to The New York Times. They also questioned if the Trump administration would require individuals without health insurance to pay tax penalties.
3. Ms. Verma’s office did not go into specifics about the meeting, but said all attendees “came to the table committed to maintaining an active dialogue to improve care for patients and focus on long-term solutions that will fix the problems created by the Affordable Care Act,” according to the report.
4. Representatives attending Tuesday’s meeting did not include CEOs from Anthem, Aetna and UnitedHealth Group, according to the report. Those executives previously met with President Donald Trump in February to address market stabilization issues.
5. As of Tuesday, the Trump administration has not issued a decision about funding the cost-sharing reductions.
More articles on payer issues:
4 industry reactions to CMS’ marketplace stabilization rule
UnitedHealth Group’s operating earnings rise 15% in Q1: 6 things to know
7 health plan changes to watch in 2017
