Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
House Plans Vote On Health Law Tweaks Aiming To Improve Affordability
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Thursday that the House is expected to vote before July 4 on tweaks to the Affordable Care Act. Hoyer didn't volunteer details about the legislation beyond saying on a BakerHostetler webinar that the bill would lower premiums and co-pays. A House Democratic leadership aide said the legislation is being developed with the committees of jurisdiction. The bill is will strengthen and expand the ACA, a source familiar with the effort said. (Cohrs, 6/11)
"We're going to meet on the Affordable Care Act, trying to bring the costs of premiums and co-pays and deductibles in the Affordable Care Act down to a place where people can in fact afford them," Hoyer said during a webinar hosted by the law firm Baker Hostetler. (Sullivan, 6/11)
In 2017, TeamHealth, the nation’s largest staffing firm for ER doctors, sued a small insurance company in Texas over a few million dollars of disputed bills. Over 2 1/2 years of litigation, the case has provided a rare look inside TeamHealth’s own operations at a time when the company, owned by private-equity giant Blackstone, is under scrutiny for soaking patients with surprise medical bills and cutting doctors’ pay amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Arnsdorf, 6/12)
Kaiser Health News: If You’ve Lost Your Health Plan In The COVID Crisis, You’ve Got Options
The coronavirus pandemic — and the economic fallout that has come with it — boosted health insurance enrollment counselor Mark Van Arnam’s workload. But he wants to be even busier. The loss of employment for 21 million Americans is a double blow for many because it also means the loss of insurance, said Van Arnam, director of the North Carolina Navigator Consortium, a group of organizations that offer free help to state residents enrolling in insurance. (Appleby, 6/12)
U.S. property and casualty insurers have cast the coronavirus pandemic as an unprecedented event whose massive cost to small businesses they are neither able nor required to cover. The industry has warned it could cost them $255 billion to $431 billion a month if they are required, as some states are proposing, to compensate firms for income lost and expenses owed due to virus-led shutdowns, an amount it says would make insurers insolvent. (Scott and Barlyn, 6/12)
For-profit hospital operators have watched their share prices fall steadily this week as COVID-19 cases tick up some of their most important states. Big hospital chains had benefited in recent weeks from a broader wave of optimism in recent weeks, but that seemed to end on Monday. Shares in Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare lost 12% of their value on Thursday alone, but the loss was nearly 25% since Monday. The shares were priced at about $19 as of Thursday's close. (Bannow, 6/11)
