In an article discussing the approval status of Iowa’s health policy proposal, The New York Times turned to Manatt’s Joel Ario, a managing director with Manatt Health, for comment.
According to the publication, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ approval of the proposal would allow the state to discard some of the Affordable Care Act’s main features next year, including its federally run insurance marketplace, its system for providing subsidies and its focus on helping those in need afford insurance and medical care.
Critics of Iowa’s waiver proposal say that it does not meet the requirements for innovation waivers. The coverage that the waivers provide must be at least as affordable as ACA plans, because lower-income people would otherwise face higher deductibles and more out-of-pocket costs.
“You still have some real problems from the perspective of making sure low-income people can afford coverage,” said Ario.
Read the article here.