White House officials and top Republicans are trading new ideas for an Obamacare repeal-and-replacement plan – including allowing more market competition between health plans, Axios reported Wednesday.
The website, citing unnamed sources, reported the talks also are looking at ways to let states opt out of some insurance regulations – a concession to moderates who do not want to undermine Obamacare's protections for people with preexisting conditions, Axios reported.
According to Axios, the core of the new head-to-head competition idea is to let insurers sell plans that do not have all of Obamacare's requirements — like the 10 categories of benefits, the minimum coverage amounts, and the limits on cost-sharing — as long as they also sell "qualified health plans" that follow all of Obamacare's rules.
The rationale is consumers would then have more options – including cheaper plans.
Axios reported, however, one objection to competitive plans is healthy people would opt for cheap plans and only the sickest patients would want the expensive plans.
The negotiators – who include officials from Vice President Mike Pence's office, White House aides, staffers from House Speaker Paul Ryan's office, and Freedom Caucus chairman and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C. – are hoping to gather enough support so the House can vote on the a bill in two weeks, Axios reported.
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