Sarah Lueck
Center on Budget
Washington, DC, United States
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Past articles by Sarah:
Recovery Legislation Provides Historic Opportunity to Advance Racial Equity
The nation now needs to make investments in children, workers, and health care that will enable more people to reach their full potential. → Read More
Trump “Wellness" Programs Gut Protections for Those With Pre-Existing Conditions
The proposal is the latest example of the Trump administration encouraging states to take steps to undermine the ACA. → Read More
Tax Breaks for Alternatives to Insurance Would Drive More Coverage Gaps
As part of a recent executive order that the Trump Administration claims would “improv… transparency in American healthcare,” it’s seeking to increase the tax advantages for two products — health care sharing ministries and direct primary care arrangements — that don’t provide the same benefits and consumer protections as comprehensive health insurance. → Read More
Proposed Change to ACA Enrollment Policies Would Boost Insured Rate, Improve Continuity of Coverage
Evidence suggests that in Massachusetts, making it easier for people to enroll in the marketplace has helped boost enrollment, prevent coverage gaps, and reduce uninsured rates, all without causing significant adverse selection. → Read More
GOP Plan to "Protect" People With Pre-existing Conditions Falls Short
Republicans are backing a bill they say will keep people covered if the ACA is destroyed. Don't believe them. → Read More
Kansas Bill Would Harm People With Pre-Existing Conditions
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly should veto a bill that would let the state’s Farm Bureau sell unregulated health plans to Kansans. That’s because the plans would likely deny coverage and charge higher premiums to people with pre-existing health conditions, omit essential benefits such as maternity care, and impose annual or lifetime dollar limits on coverage. → Read More
Senate Considering Blocking Expansion of Skimpy Health Plans
Update, October 10: we’ve updated this post to include more information about the lawsuit to block the federal rules. → Read More
Commentary: Texas Suit Is One Among Many Attempts to Undo Pre-Existing Condition Protections
Two events are bringing renewed attention to the future of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) insurance protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions: a hearing in a legal case that would invalidate those protections and Senate hearings on the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, who if confirmed could preside over challenges to the law. Top Trump → Read More
With Federal Rules Weakened, States Should Act to Protect Against Short-Term Health Plans
New federal rules, released today, allow short-term plans exempt from pre-existing condition protections and benefit standards to last for up to one year and to be renewed. It’s now up to states to protect their residents and their insurance markets from an expansion of substandard coverage. In several states, policymakers of both parties have already acted to set their own → Read More
Health Care Rule Changes Will Harm Consumers
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has finalized health care rule changes that will weaken benefit standards, likely harming people with pre-existing conditions; raise new barriers for people who want to enroll in health coverage; and reduce accountability for insurers and transparency for consumers. → Read More
Administration’s Proposed Changes to Essential Health Benefits Seriously Threaten Comprehensive Coverage
The Trump Administration has issued proposed regulations to substantially weaken the Affordable Care Act’s Essential Health Benefits standard. → Read More
Iowa Can Strengthen Health Insurance Market Without Harming Consumers
Now that Iowa has withdrawn its request for a federal “1332 waiver” to allow it to change its health insurance market, some state officials are blaming what they say are overly strict federal requirements for approving such waivers. But, in reality, those requirements served their intended purpose of protecting consumers. While Iowa’s individual market faces challenges, Iowa consumers will… → Read More
Trump Order Could Destabilize Health Insurance Markets, Hurt Those With Pre-Existing Conditions
President Trump’s new executive order could destabilize the health insurance markets where millions of individuals and small businesses get their coverage and undermine protections for people with pre-existing health conditions. → Read More
ACA Marketplaces Poised to Grow Stronger — If They’re Not Sabotaged
President Trump is again threatening to stop cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments to insurers under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), just as new data show that such action would fuel sharp premium hikes in 2018. → Read More
Trump Move Would Boost Premiums, Raise Federal Costs, Destabilize Insurance Market
Ending the CSR payments would boost premiums for many consumers, raise overall federal marketplace subsidy costs, and likely cause some insurers to withdraw from the marketplaces. → Read More
Senate Health Bill Waivers Would Undermine Key Consumer Protections for People with Pre-Existing Conditions
The bill would cut coverage and raise costs even without the Cruz amendment. → Read More
Waiting Period Penalty in Senate Republicans’ Health Bill Would Lock People Out of Coverage, Provide Little Benefit to the Risk Pool
The Senate Republican health bill includes a six-month waiting period penalty for people who have gaps in coverage and then attempt to enroll in health insurance in the individual market. This “continuous coverage” penalty would treat people harshly when they have been uninsured for a period of time — locking them out of coverage and reducing their access to needed care for six months or more.… → Read More
Commentary: The Senate Health Bill Must Meet At Least Four Requirements to Pass the “Kimmel Test”
When late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel shared his experience of having a child who needed life-saving surgery for a serious heart ailment, he prompted an outpouring of public support for making sure that people with serious and chronic conditions can obtain affordable health coverage that meets their needs. Now as the House health care bill heads to the Senate, there is already talk of the… → Read More
Trump Administration Finalizes Rule that Will Raise Consumer Costs, Discourage Enrollment and Weaken Marketplaces
The Trump Administration released a final rule for the individual health insurance market that will raise consumers' deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs, reduce premium tax credits that help millions of people buy insurance and make it harder for people to enroll in coverage. → Read More
Commentary: How the Trump Administration Might Sabotage ACA Insurance Markets
President Trump says the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is “exploding right now” and predicts a “very bad year,” with insurer pullouts and large premium increases in many states’ individual health insurance markets. → Read More