Feds approve Maine insurance program that Obamacare halted
Republican President Donald Trump's administration has given the go-ahead to Maine's effort to re-launch a $93 million program to reduce health insurance premiums and reduce the uninsured population. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved GOP Gov. Paul LePage's administration's request Monday.
Maine's program first launched in 2011 but a similar federal Affordable Care Act plan replaced it. States have used "reinsurance" programs to help insurers afford to cover their most seriously ill, expensive consumers.
The program redistributes insurance money in part by charging a $4 per-person fee on individual and group plans expected to yield $22.6 million. The program would also direct $37 million in premiums from seriously ill patients and put it into an "invisible high-risk pool."
The program could save $33.4 million of federal dollars.