Congress urged to fund cost-sharing reductions through 2019

As the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee holds a series of bipartisan hearings on stabilizing the individual health insurance market, AHA and seven other organizations urged the committee to fund cost-sharing reduction benefits for at least two years. “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 organizations wrote to the committee, which today held a hearing on stabilizing the individual market. “…Without two years of CSR funding, uncertainty will persist and the Congress will need to address these same issues early next year.” In addition to AHA, the letter’s signers include America’s Health Insurance Plans, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Benefits Council, American Medical Association, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Federation of American Hospitals, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Witnesses at today’s hearing included state insurance commissioners from Oklahoma, Washington, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Alaska.