At the annual National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) meeting, Trump Administration officials told insurers that they will not make a decision on their proposed junk plan rule until this fall, right before Open Enrollment begins. Axios noted: “That would give insurers very little time to adjust their premiums to account for the finalized regulations — which would probably make them more likely to err on the side of caution and seek bigger initial increases.” In response, Protect Our Care Campaign Chair Leslie Dach released the following statement:
“Middle-class consumers are already bracing for higher rates next year as a direct result of the TrumpTax bill and ongoing Trump Administration sabotage. After sabotaging their own half-hearted attempt at a so-called stabilization bill, Republicans in Congress have nobody to blame but themselves for the rate hikes that insurance companies are now predicting. If they truly want to contain the damage and protect consumers, they should call on the Trump Administration to immediately rescind the junk plan rule that would once again allow discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions and also force rate increases for real insurance. It’s important to remember that it didn’t have to be this way: before President Trump took office, rates were leveling out and some insurance companies were planning to offer lower premiums. But instead, Trump led Congressional Republicans into an all-out war on our health care, and now that they have failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, they seem to have decided to just keep digging.”