How Trump could sink Obamacare, pull market supports
August 8, 2017 by admin
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President Donald Trump has been ramping up his threats to derail the Affordable Care Act over the last week after Republicans on Capitol Hill put aside their immediate effort to repeal or replace the law.
On July 28, after Senate Republicans failed to pass their “skinny repeal” that would roll back portions of the Affordable Care Act, Trump tweeted, “As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!”
3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017
A week ago, he added to speculation that he will not continue the current arrangement with insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. “If ObamaCare is hurting people, it is, why shouldn’t it hurt the insurance companies?” he said.
If ObamaCare is hurting people, it is, why shouldn’t it hurt the insurance companies why should Congress not be paying what public pays?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2017
Trump also specifically tweeted about the possibility of ending subsidy payments the federal government makes to insurance companies, which reduce premiums and out of pocket costs for lower-income Americans who buy their own insurance on the individual markets.
On July 29, Trump said in another tweet, “If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!”
If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017
Under current law, these federal payments, also known as cost-sharing reductions, or CSRs, are made directly to insurance companies to keep prices down.
The Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that if these CSR payments were stopped, insurance premiums on the individual markets would increase by 19 percent or higher.
Experts fear many Americans who have relied on subsidized insurance will no longer be able to afford individual plans and insurance companies may simply choose to withdraw their plans from marketplaces altogether, only selling privately or to groups.
Insurance companies may also read an end to subsidies as a signal about government intentions.
“Some insurers may also interpret a decision to stop these reimbursements as evidence that the Administration wants the market to fail, causing them to exit the market entirely,” Matt Fielder, a fellow at the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative on Healthy Policy, explained to ABC News.
“Those types of exits could leave some consumers with fewer options or, in some cases, no options at all,” he added.
An upcoming monthly payment of federal subsidies is set for the third week of August. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed concerns that abruptly ending payments could dramatically disrupt the health care system and send the individual markets into a tailspin.
Republican Sen. John Thune told ABC News on last week, “I hope the president continues to make those payments until such time as we have the opportunity to pass something that repeals the law and replaces it with something better.”
Senate Health, Labor, Education and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said in a statement last week that he wants the president to approve two months of CSR payments and hopes Congress will pass a bill after the August recess that includes federal subsidies for 2018.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said at a press briefing last Wednesday that no final decision has been made regarding what the administration plans to do about CSR payments.
The president and his Cabinet have other options that could immediately affect the system, according to health care and legal experts.
In addition to ending the CSR payments, the government could stop enforcing the individual insurance mandate, which requires Americans to purchase health insurance or pay a tax.
In theory, should Trump order his secretaries to no longer enforce that part of the law, some healthier, younger Americans may choose to forgo coverage. This could leave insurers with imbalanced markets, tilting toward sicker, older populations.
The threat alone of ending the individual mandate has led some companies to consider an increase in their prices. In a June 1 press release, Pennsylvania insurance commissioner Teresa Miller warned that if the individual mandate is ended, companies estimate a 23.3 percent rate increase statewide. As a Blue Cross Blue Shield Association statement read last Wednesday, “A system that allows people to purchase coverage only when they need it drives up costs for everyone.”
The CBO projected that, under current law, 28 million people under the age of 65 will be uninsured in 2026. If the individual mandate is ended, the CBO estimates 43 million people will be uninsured by 2026.
The president could also try to shuffle around the current set enrollment periods when an individual can sign up for a health insurance plan. Executive efforts to decrease enrollment period sign-ups have already been in the works. The administration proposed shortening the enrollment period for 2018 from three months to about six weeks, thereby cutting the amount of time people have to sign up for insurance plans, further destabilizing the insurance markets.
The marketplace is also supposed to pay navigators to offer “free, objective, and trained help” on choosing insurance plans and clarifying questions about the enrollment process, as Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at The Kaiser Family Foundation, explained to ABC News. However, Politz said that the House Appropriations Committee recently released a draft of a bill that would cut the U.S. Health and Human Services Department spending on navigators.
In January, the president cut funding for advertising that was aimed at young adults to sign up for plans by the end of open enrollment. For the first time, there was a dip in sign-ups at the end of open enrollment period, Pollitz said, where usually companies see a surge.
ABC News’ MaryAlice Parks contributed to this report.
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Hideki Matsuyama Ties a Course Record to Win the Bridgestone Invitational
August 7, 2017 by admin
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The victory gave Matsuyama bookend World Golf Championships titles. He won by seven strokes in Shanghai in October, beating Henrik Stenson, who only a few months earlier had won the British Open. That finish came during a stretch in which Matsuyama was perhaps the hottest player on the planet. Between mid-October and early February, he won five tournaments worldwide, including an unofficial event hosted by Woods. He also had two runner-up finishes.
In February, Matsuyama moved within reach of the No. 1 ranking, then held by Jason Day, but succumbed to the pressure and missed the cut at the Genesis Open. Dustin Johnson won the tournament to rise to No. 1, where he remains.
No Japanese golfer has won a men’s major. Matsuyama has come close: He finished tied for second at this year’s United States Open, tied for fourth at last year’s P.G.A. Championship and tied for seventh at the 2016 Masters. A sizable contingent of the Japanese news media shadows Matsuyama during each competitive round he plays in the United States. Before every major, the other top players have grown accustomed to being asked by Japanese reporters to assess Matsuyama’s chances at victory.
Jordan Spieth, who closed with a 68 to finish tied for 13th here, can complete a career Grand Slam with a victory at this week’s P.G.A. Championship at Quail Hollow in North Carolina. So, which question does he expect to field first, one about his chances to win his fourth major or one about Matsuyama’s chances to win his first?
Spieth, the world No. 2, said it would probably be about his prospects. Smiling, he added, “I normally don’t get asked about Hideki until the third or fourth question.”
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Although he won the British Open last month, Spieth said that after watching the way Rory McIlroy was striking the ball here, he considers McIlroy — a two-time P.G.A. Championship winner and twice a champion of the tour event at Quail Hollow — the favorite going into the final men’s major of the year.
McIlroy, who pulled to within one stroke of the lead early in Sunday’s round before settling for a final-round 69 and a tie for ninth, nine strokes back, chuckled when told about Spieth’s handicapping. “Trying to take some pressure off himself,” McIlroy, the world No. 4, said. “I see what he’s trying to do.”
McIlroy, who missed the cut at the United States Open and finished tied for fourth at the British Open, added: “If I’m the favorite, I’m happy with that. Means I’m playing well. Much different than I went into my last majors. It’s amazing what two weeks can do.”
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It’s also amazing what one drive can do. As he walked to the first tee box, Matsuyama was wondering where his swing had gone. After his third-round 67, he headed to the range and worked on his tempo until darkness fell. “I hit it really well and had a lot of confidence,” Matsuyama said through an interpreter.
He described his range session as “probably the worst warm-up I’ve ever had in a tournament that I’ve won.” He added, “I was shocked.”
Matsuyama hit an errant first drive, but instead of making him more anxious, it had a calming effect.
“Something clicked,” he said, “and from that point on, I was able to find it again.”
The rest of the round, Matsuyama said, “I felt calm, peaceful, didn’t try to get too high or too low.”
The challenge for Matsuyama over the next week will be to maintain his serenity while his compatriots calculate his chances of winning the P.G.A. Championship.
“I hope their expectations aren’t too high,” he said, adding, “My expectations at the beginning of the week weren’t that high, and here we are.”
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