The maggots get a feast
FEDERAL TAXPAYERS TO PAY FOR ALASKA’S HEALTH INSURANCE
U.S. Senators Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski commended the Trump Administration for granting the State of Alaska an “Innovation Waiver” under the Affordable Care Act.
The “innovation” part of the waiver is actually a transfer of the high cost of health insurance in Alaska to federal taxpayers.
Insurance should go down by 20 percent for consumers, said Seema Verma, administrator for the Affordable Care Act program at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
It’s unclear if the only insurer in the state, Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska, will actually lower the cost of insurance and there is no way to force it to. Premera of Alaska made $20 million in profits from “Obamacare” insurance plans in 2016.
The total grant is about $332 million of taxpayer money, according to Gov. Bill Walker. That equates to $15,000 for each of the 23,000 Alaskans who have had to enroll in the mandatory health insurance program.
The State applied for the grant following legislation signed by Walker last year, which gave $55 million to the Alaska Reinsurance Program to help reduce spiraling health insurance costs.
The federal government will reimburse the state $48 million next year. For the following four years, that number may increase with enrollment.
Premera has not yet announced what it will charge Alaskans for the coming year. Enrollment begins Nov. 1.
http://mustreadalaska.com/heads-tails-health-care-bailout-alaska/
