Trending News Today: Government to Crackdown on ACA Special Enrollments

Arizona has reinstated a program for children of the working poor called KidsCare, which has had its enrollment frozen for the past 6 years to cut costs. The original stand-alone bill was rejected last month, but was finally passed when Democrats and Republicans agreed to attach it to a bill that expands disabled students’ eligibility for school vouchers, according to The New York Times. Now, Arizona will no longer be the only state that does not fund this program.

Cigna Corp has announced that their deal with Anthem Inc may close in 2017, rather than 2016 as previously thought. Anthem announced they were planning to buy Cigna 10 months ago, but have recently experienced delays due to the complexity of the regulatory process, according to Reuters. Should this deal go through, the largest health insurer would be created and the company would offer Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance.

The federal government will now limit the special sign-up periods for ObamaCare. Many insurers complained that special enrollments have not been strictly enforced and people have been abusing it. According to U.S. News & World Report, some people get sick and sign up only to later drop the coverage.