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n2doc's JournalPresident Trump's Health Pick Says Maternity Leave Should Be Optional
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump's pick to lead the government's major health insurance programs says maternity coverage should be optional for patients.
Indiana health care consultant Seema Verma tells the Senate Finance Committee that patients — not the government — should determine the insurance benefits they need.
Verma was facing questions from Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow about the Obama-era health law. That law made maternity and newborn coverage a mandatory benefit for all health insurance plans.
Verma tells Stabenow that some women want maternity coverage and "some women might not choose that."
more
http://time.com/4673530/donald-trump-health-care-maternity-leave/?xid=homepage
Sales of anti-choice license plates in the US are funding unregulated clinics that push medical lies
In the US, drivers stick vanity license plates on their cars to express support for everything from national parks and veterans to breast cancer awareness—and anti-abortion clinics. Twenty-nine states offer “Choose Life” license plates that cost anywhere from $25 to $70, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
In 1997, Randy Harris, a county commissioner in Florida, started the organization Choose Life to promote the creation and sale of these license plates across the country. He wanted to use sales to fund “pro-life pregnancy centers” and “other life affirming agencies,” according to the organization’s website. In 2000, Florida became the first state to pass legislation that allowed the sale of these specialty plates.
Proceeds from those sales were initially passed on to counties in Florida. Then, in 2011, Choose Life successfully lobbied for a statute that would allow the organization to administer the funds and distribute them to pregnancy care centers, maternity homes, and non-profit adoption agencies.
After their victory in Florida, the organization pushed for similar programs in other states across the country. From 2000 to date, the number of states that allow Choose Life license plates grew to 29; anti-abortion groups are currently working on pushing through legislation to allow Choose Life plates in an additional 16 states.
more
https://qz.com/911715/sales-of-anti-abortion-license-plates-in-the-us-are-funding-unregulated-clinics-that-push-medical-lies/
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Trump's IRS stages a stealth attack on Obamacare
The Internal Revenue Service has become the first agency to follow President Trump’s directive to start undermining the Affordable Care Act.
In a quiet rule change, but an important one, the IRS has told tax preparers and software firms that it won’t automatically reject tax returns that fail to state whether the tax filer had health insurance during the year. That effectively loosens enforcement of the ACA’s individual mandate. It appears to be a direct response to Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order requiring federal agencies “minimize...the economic and regulatory burdens of the Act.”
We observed at the time that the executive order would cripple ACA insurance exchanges, not only by signaling the Trump Administration’s open hostility to Obamacare, but by kicking a leg out from the regulatory stool supporting the act.
The IRS action its the first manifestation of that. The agency hasn’t announced its rule change publicly, but it was picked up by Peter Suderman of Reason and Kathleen Pender of the San Francisco Chronicle, who both reported it Tuesday.
more
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-irs-obamacare-20170215-story.html
Welcome Back to the Medical Underwriting Circle of Hell
By John McDonough & William Seligman
February 15, 2017
All leading Republicans who are committed to repealing all or key parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) also emphasize their commitment to maintaining the law’s most popular part: banning pre-existing condition exclusions and medical underwriting by preserving the ACA’s (also known as Obamacare) policy of “guaranteed issue.” But the fine print in Republican proposals betrays that commitment, including legislation filed on January 26 by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) threatening health security for tens of millions of Americans.
Medical underwriting is the insurance industry practice of issuing and pricing health insurance based on an individual’s current or prior medical condition. Insurers use medical underwriting and pre-existing condition exclusions to avoid covering anyone who might cost them money. The Walden bill, called the “Preexisting Conditions Protection and Continuous Coverage Incentive Act,” pretends to continue the ACA’s ban on medical underwriting, but would, in reality, do the opposite.What are pre-existing conditions that can prevent you from obtaining coverage?
What are pre-existing conditions that can prevent you from obtaining coverage? Here is a list of hundreds that are used to exclude or limit health insurance: acne, cancer, domestic violence, leukemia, pregnancy, sleep apnea, and much more.
Walden’s bill would require that insurers not use medical underwriting and pre-existing condition exclusions against applicants for insurance, though with provisos. For example, though insurers couldn’t refuse to issue a policy because of someone’s current or past medical condition, nothing in his draft prevents insurers from using medical underwriting in setting premiums. In other words, health care consumers could acquire insurance despite their medical history, yet still see huge increases in month premium expenses.
more
http://www.realclearhealth.com/articles/2017/02/15/welcome_back_to_the_medical_underwriting_circle_of_hell_110443.html
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