Jan 27, 2017 - Health

The trouble with selling insurance across state lines

One Obamacare replacement idea that resurfaced in Philadelphia Thursday: House Budget Committee chairwoman Diane Black said the "reconciliation" bill could include a provision to let health insurance be sold across state lines. That's not surprising since it's been on the Republican agenda for years, but state insurance commissioners hate the idea — and they spoke out against it just earlier this week.

In a letter to top Republicans and Democrats on the two House health committees, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners said the state lines idea would be imposed "by federal edict ... Such federal actions would strip states of the ability to protect consumers and create competitive markets and should be rejected." That's a political fight the Republicans may not have had to face before, but they will now.

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