Federal Budget? Check. Fixes to the ACA? Not Yet.
Share this article:
This post was authored by Dan Colacino, Vice President of Underwriting and Compliance at Rose and Kiernan, Inc.
It’s official: The country now has a budget that actually extends to the end of our fiscal year, September 30, 2018. Not bad considering that it took six continuing resolutions (basically stopgap spending bills) and one government shutdown (did anyone notice?) to get it done. The list of what’s included in the most recent $1.3 trillion spending bill is the typical “ornaments on the Christmas tree” approach (but note, no “Wall”).
However, there is nothing to support the small group and individual marketplaces, fund the cost-sharing reductions that were eliminated (eventually costing the government more than they saved) or allow states an easier road to requesting waivers of ACA requirements. So much for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s promise to Senator Susan Collins in order to secure her support for last year’s tax bill. What did get done fortunately was extended funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program which expired in the fall of 2017. The program is now funded through 2027. The Individual Market is left up to the states to manage without flexibility from Congress to do so.
The inability to address what would have been relatively simple, yet short-term fixes to the Individual Marketplace is anticipated to be addressed in separate legislation during the balance of this session. There’s reason for skepticism since this is a midterm election year. In early 2017, it seemed to be a safe bet that the Republicans would maintain a majority in both chambers of Congress. However, that has changed dramatically. 36 House Republicans have declared their intent not to run for re-election along with 16 Democrats, a 30% increase over 2016. An indication that the interest in holding public office hasn’t declined? The numbers of people who have filed to run. 2,196 candidates are declared for the House and another 260 for the Senate. The majority (50.9%) are Democrats with 39.5% listed as Republicans and 9.9% being third party candidates. That’s a 9% increase over 2016 and a 15% increase over 2014.
What does this mean for potential legislation? Probably that elected officials – or at least those who are running again – will be spending a lot of time in their home districts campaigning and trying to avoid controversial votes in their respective chamber. Don’t look for anything significant to come out of the balance of the 115th Congress.
