- A Key Republican Demands Subsidies to Calm Insurance Markets New York Times by Robert Pear—A powerful House Republican said Thursday that Congress should immediately provide money for subsidy payments to health insurance companies, which have been demanding big rate increases or fleeing from Affordable Care Act markets because of President Trump's threat to cut off the funds. The Republican, Kevin Brady of Texas, who is the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, went out of his way to make clear that he now believes that Congress should continue the subsidies, which compensate insurers for reducing deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs for seven million low-income people.
- States Scramble to Prevent Obamacare Exodus The Hill by Rachel Roubein and Nathaniel Weixel—Insurance commissioners are pulling out all the stops to keep insurers from leaving their states amid uncertainty over Obamacare's future. They are offering insurers new, previously unheard of flexibilities to try to keep them in the market. But the effort faces an uphill climb, given the Trump administration's wobbling over whether it will continue federal payments that compensate insurers for subsidizing out-of-pocket costs for lower-income households. There's also the question of whether Congress will repeal Obamacare this year.