Trending News Today: Affordable Care Act Uncertainty Could Raise Premiums

Efforts to stabilize the individual insurance exchanges for 2018 may be too late, according to Politico. Insurers have warned GOP lawmakers that the uncertainty surrounding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will affect where they will sell their plans and how much they will charge. While it is likely that legislators will be unable to pass a stabilization approach quickly, insurers must finalize premiums within the next 2 weeks and sign final contracts by the end of September 2017, according to the article.

The FDA is increasing efforts to stop opioids from illegally entering the country through the mail, especially synthetic drugs from China, according to The Washington Post. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, said he will be sending 3 dozen employees to international US Postal Services facilities to analyze packages. While employees identify potentially suspicious packages, they currently do not report details that help target the shipments, which would change under the new approach, according to the article.

The insolvency of Penn Treaty American Corp and its 2 subsidiaries may be another reason insurance premiums will increase, California Healthline reported. Due to the failure of the long-term care insurer, other insurance companies are required to pay for the company’s claims and protect policyholders, according to the article. Since the insurer’s claims are nearly $4 billion, insurers may be on the hook for a large portion of the costs.