Groups Across Health Industry Pressure Congress to Fund CSRs

State officials and interest groups across the entire health care industry are pushing for Congress to guarantee cost-sharing reductions funding through 2019 in order to stabilize the ACA marketplace.

In a joint letter to the Senate’s HELP Committee, a group of eight health care organizations including America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the American Hospital Association (AHA), and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, urged lawmakers to shore up funding for cost-sharing reductions subsidies through 2019.

“Persistent uncertainty about CSR funding is a significant driver of current market instability— pushing premiums higher and resulting in fewer choices for individual market consumers,” the associations wrote. “We urge the Committee to include continuous funding for CSR benefits for at least the next two years (2018-2019) as part of bipartisan legislation to stabilize the individual market.”

According to the letter, without funding for CSRs before insurers make their final 2018 ACA participation decisions and finalize rates for open enrollment, 2018 premiums could increase by 20% for a benchmark silver plan.

They also argue that not providing funding for the subsidies will add $194 billion to the federal deficit over the next 10 years, and lead to fewer plan choices for lower income Americans.
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They concluded that providing 2 years of funding, as opposed to a only funding through 2018, would curtail the destabilization currently ongoing in the ACA marketplace.

“By committing to CSR funding for two years, it would go a long way to bring much needed stability to the individual market and promote access to more affordable coverage and choices for millions of Americans,” they wrote.—David Costill