President Joe Biden’s administration has stopped Gov. Brian Kemp’s plan to get the private sector, rather than the government, to get involved to get the state’s residents to enroll in insurance under the Affordable Care Act
Apr 30, 2022 11:43 p.m
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ATLANTA – President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday halted Gov. Brian Kemp’s plan to get the private sector, rather than the government, to get involved to get the state’s residents to sign up for Affordable Care insurance to register act.
Kemp, a Republican, had planned to bypass healthcare.gov and let residents search for government-subsidized health insurance through private agents. Former President Donald Trump’s administration approved the plan in 2020, and state officials had touted it as a way to increase insurance coverage.
But federal regulators said Kemp’s proposed changes to the market violate federal rules regarding insurance waivers and could result in too many people being left out of coverage, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
The letter from the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services gives Georgia until July 28 to formulate a “corrective action plan” … that will ensure the waiver covers a comparable number of residents that coverage is at least as comprehensive and affordable how that coverage is provided without the waiver and that the waiver does not increase the federal deficit.”
A spokesman for Kemp told the newspaper his office is reviewing the decision.
Friday’s decision by the Biden administration will have no immediate impact on people who bought insurance through the open marketplace exchange.
The governor’s office said private websites would provide better service and provide more options that would increase insurance coverage in the state.
But critics fear the move will make it harder to get insurance and move healthy people to cheaper plans that offer limited coverage and increase insurance premiums for the elderly and infirm who need the comprehensive benefits required by the ACA. That’s because Georgia’s move to private sites would make it easier for consumers to simultaneously see plans that don’t offer all the benefits the Court is calling for.
An opponent of the Kemp plan, Laura Colbert, director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, said the suspension was justified.
“Any plan that would significantly impact health coverage for 700,000 people should be carefully considered,” Colbert said in a statement emailed to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
“Georgia leaders have declined to answer questions about their plan to divest healthcare.gov, ignoring evidence their plan will result in some hard-working Georgians losing their cover.”
The plan to block ACA shopping on Healthcare.gov was one of two Kemp proposals that could be decided in court. The other is Kemp’s plan to extend Medicaid to the poor, but only if they meet a work requirement. The Biden administration has already blocked that proposal, a move Georgia has sued.
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