In the debate over extending the enhanced ACA Marketplace tax credits, there has been no discussion of their benefit for children's coverage. The enhanced credits helped increase child Marketplace enrollment (under age 18) by 2.5X to 2.6 million between 2020 & 2025 (based on open enrollment data).

I wrote a song about the woman who raised my dad. She was a black woman in the American South and shaped him into the good man he is. Hope you might listen. colinbaillio.bandcamp.com/track/elsie

It's so funny how these guys say "import the third world, become the third world" and then their own policy preferences end up converging with the taliban

Harvard sociologist/polisci Theda Skocpol explains how the vast expansion of ICE in BBB may be Trump's secret weapon to overcome the barriers of federalism and complete his autocratic takeover of the American state. (History from Germany & Hungary in 20s/30s.) talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/criti...

As of a couple weeks ago, fewer than one in ten people knew there were Medicaid cuts in this bill. Folks are in for a very rude surprise. priorities.org/news-and-pre...

Pretty damn awful

New @urbaninstitute.bsky.social analysis finds that rural hospitals will be hit by $119B/10 years with #Medicaid cuts and expiration of the enhanced ACA tax credits: $87B in reduced revenues + $23B in higher uncompensated care costs: www.urban.org/urban-wire/r...

Put simply: 8 - 12 million of the 24 million ACA exchange enrollees will be priced completely out of coverage. The other 12 - 16 million will have to pay through the nose to keep theirs, in most cases having to downgrade to a worse plan while still paying far more. acasignups.net/ira-subsidy-...

Was glad to have the opportunity to join Morning Edition today — despite being, emphatically, not a morning person — to chat about the looming cuts to Medicaid. (Tough to hit all of the essential points in five minutes, though.)

I really don’t think most Americans know we are only days aways from millions losing their health insurance in the biggest cut to Medicaid in history, plus millions losing food assistance in the biggest cut to SNAP in history. The next few days are crucial for fighting the “big beautiful bill.”

!!!

You can’t give rural hospitals $15 billion if you put them all out of business.

Among the many hidden features of the GOP health care cuts: On work requirements, marketplace operations, the bill would limit state flexibility Unless states wanted to make it *harder* for people to get insurance, in which case they'd get the green light www.thebulwark.com/p/how-trump-...

Most Americans (including MAGA/Republicans and people who don't use the Marketplaces) support the idea of Congress extending the Marketplace subsidy enhancements that are set to expire at the end of this year. www.kff.org/affordable-c... But Congress hasn't done anything to address this.

Because when you’re raising high schoolers, you have plenty of time to fill out meaningless paperwork every month so that you don’t lose access to health care.

Enraging www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/...

New figures from CBO about how Americans at different income levels are affected by the GOP's Big Beautiful Bill. Topline finding: Richest decile gets about 2% richer. Poorest decile gets about 4% poorer. www.cbo.gov/publication/...

Most adults with opioid use disorder on #Medicaid qualify through the expansion pathway and would be subject to work requirements or need to verify an exemption. www.kff.org/medicaid/iss...

There are exemptions from the Medicaid work requirement Republicans are advancing, such as having a substance use disorder. But, an under-appreciated nuance is that people would have to demonstrate that they qualify.

A humble suggestion: How about we work to make American health care affordable again? Right now, the focus is just the opposite. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

This is a lie. CBO's 10.9 million health coverage loss figure is NET of people who switch to ESI/the exchanges/etc. The Medicaid & CHIP provisions kick more than 10 million off. Some find other coverage, for a net loss of 7.8 million. Add in the ACA provisions, and the net effect is 10.9 million.

CBO finds the House bill has $1 trillion in health care cuts and increases the uninsured by 16 million (w/other changes). How big is this? Compared to 2017 ACA repeal bills, this is larger than "skinny repeal" and up to two thirds the size of full repeal. Wow. www.brookings.edu/articles/new...

NEW: The mother of an Arizona man who died after being unable to find mental health treatment is suing his health insurer, saying it broke the law by publishing false information that misled its customers. By @maxblau.bsky.social

Indeed. acasignups.net/ira-subsidy-...

Understand that this + letting the enhanced premium subsidies expire is going to lead to MASSIVE premium and out-of-pocket cost increases on the Marketplace.

Can’t emphasize this enough: if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the debased assault on our country, the antidote is connecting with other people in the flesh who are feeling the same way. There are millions of us.

Free idea for whenever Medicaid work reporting requirements are debated in Congress: Introduce an amendment that would require millionaires who benefit from our extremely low and porous capital gains taxes to fill out monthly work reporting paperwork.

this would require even deeper medicaid cuts in their reconciliation bill because they’d have to offset the cost they’re going in the wrong direction! www.politico.com/live-updates...

📣 NEW STATE ADDED: I've completed pie charts breaking out total population enrollment in #MEDICAID, #CHIP, #MEDICARE & #ACA exchange plans for every Congressional District in #NEWMEXICO: acasignups.net/cd-pie-chart...

The Trump administration's war on the ACA continues, with a new proposed rule that - in their OWN words - would "increase administrative burden" and "deter some eligible low-income" from enrolling. The proposal = more paperwork + higher premiums. www.cms.gov/newsroom/fac...

If the rule is finalized as proposed, CMS estimates that between 750,000 and 2 million enrollees to leave the marketplace, undoing tremendous recent progress in marketplace coverage and affordability. www.cbpp.org/blog/policie...

CMS's proposed #ACA marketplace rule would mean fewer people with health coverage, more red tape, higher costs, less time to enroll, plus decreased access for certain groups. People currently struggling to afford the basics would once again lose out. Some highlights (lowlights?) - a 🧵:

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Availability of a 2nd chance in January allowed for lots of people who are facing token premiums a chance to enroll as they desired to do so after getting tripped up by burden 12/15 OEP end takes away that second change

These proposed changes are at risk of flying below the radar because they are highly technical. But CMS's own estimates suggest that marketplace coverage losses *in 2026* will be 34-90% higher than the coverage losses from expiration of enhanced subsidies alone.

The idea that we would slash Medicaid during an economic downturn, when even more people rely on the program, is deeply worrying. t.co/9L5UQ99qZM

Apropos, new research in the American Economic Review finds that longer waits for mental health specialists in the VA leads to more veterans dying. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

Going to tattoo this on my forehead

Federal budget hawks who endorse plans to cut federal Medicaid costs by shifting costs to states need to understand that states do not have an obvious way to shoulder the burden. stateline.org/2025/01/22/c...

Heck yeah! New Mexico exports surge to $12 billion, shattering records across multiple categories www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/...

I am begging everyone to take two minutes to see how the Arkansas #Medicaid work reporting requirement caused this working man become uninsured, lose access to his medications, and lose his job because he became too sick to work. www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

“Rural hospitals are closing at an extraordinary rate right now.” That is true — and why gutting Medicaid (and cutting ACA tax credits) is a BAD idea. Want to see that rate get turbocharged?

Twelve years of #ACA Open Enrollment & #MedicaidExpansion in two images: acasignups.net/25/01/24/twe... acasignups.net/25/01/24/twe...

🎉 BOOM: 2025 #ACA Open Enrollment hits nearly 24.2M enrollees, nearly 26.0M with BHPs included; up 12.7% y/y, still time to #GetCovered in a few states! acasignups.net/25/01/17/boo...

Here's a survey from August 2024 I hadn't looked at closely before: only 12% of Americans — and fewer than one in four Republicans — report wanting to spend less on Medicaid than we do now. ssrs.com/health-care-...

BeWell, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Marketplace, reports that NM has nearly 68,000 signups, up from 56,472 last OEP. Still 2 more days left to sign up! bewellnm.com/transparency... @charlesgaba.com

Last year Drew Altman and I wrote about how the complexity of our health care and insurance system is the enemy of access and affordability. It all seems newly relevant today. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

REMINDER: That 7.9% is IN ADDITION TO whatever the annual 2026 rate hikes would be and IN ADDITION TO the lost tax credits for the 93% of enrollees who are currently receiving them.

My open enrollment ad pitch!