The American Academy of Actuaries reiterated yesterday what so many analyses have found: The Trump administration's regulatory moves on health care are contributing to rising premiums for ACA coverage.
Why it matters: New rules expanding access to sh0rt-term policies and association health plans could result in "market segmentation and adverse selection ... leading to higher premiums," the actuaries said.
The House is voting on this week on a slew of bills related to the opioid crisis. Most of them would only make incremental steps toward combatting the epidemic, but a handful could make a more serious difference.
Between the lines: Incremental doesn't mean unimportant — many of these bills plug important holes in the law. But the most significant legislation aims to reduce the number of prescription opioids in circulation, increase access to addiction treatment and crack down on fentanyl coming into the U.S. through the mail.
The Trump administration's latest effort to eliminate the Affordable Care Act's protections for pre-existing conditions is opening a rift among Republicans, and even within the executive branch.
Between the lines: Congressional Republicans seem to just now be waking up to the fact that the Trump administration has boxed them into a new round of questions about whether the party wants to guarantee coverage for pre-existing conditions.
A senior attorney at the Justice Department has resigned in response to the agency's decision last week not to defend the Affordable Care Act in court because it believes the individual mandate provision is unconstitutional, the Washington Post reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The details: Joel McElvain, who reportedly has been working at the Justice Department for more than 20 years, tendered his resignation on Friday — the day Attorney General Jeff Sessions informed congressional lawmakers about his decision on Obamacare. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the provision in 2012, and the Trump administration's move has roll back years of legal work McElvain carried out on this issue. The individual mandate requires most people to buy insurance or pay a tax penalty.
