The Trump administration has issued new guidance on Medicaid today that will give states broader ability to waive Obamacare requirements on health coverage.
Reports The Hill:
Currently, states can apply for waivers from certain ObamaCare policies in order to help shore up individual insurance markets. The waivers were designed with specific “guardrails” meant to ensure that the waivers met at least the same coverage level as under ObamaCare.
The new guidance loosens those restrictions and allows states to promote health plans that don’t require the same level of coverage as the federal health law, including charging higher premiums for people with pre-existing conditions.
The guidance is a boon for red states that were previously denied ObamaCare waivers because they would not have provided sufficient coverage.
Now, red states will be allowed to offer plans with much less comprehensive coverage in what critics have called a “parallel” insurance market. Experts say the market will be more attractive to younger, healthier people.
Lots more to come on this, but it doesn’t bode well for those who believe more, rather than fewer, people and situations should be covered by health insurance.
Arkansas already was on the cutting edge of Obama waivers with a work rule for expanded Medicaid coverage that has already disqualified 8,500 people and soon will disqualify thousands more.