The Trump administration issued a written warning to Idaho on Thursday that an audacious maneuver by the state to allow health plans that fall outside the Affordable Care Act’s insurance rules “may not be substantially enforcing” the law.
The warning, in a letter to Idaho’s governor and insurance director by the administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), does not immediately block the state’s unique decision to encourage insurers to sell health coverage lacking some benefits required by the law, such as maternity care or certain coverage of preexisting conditions. The letter is a strong signal, however, that the Department of Health and Human Services is unwilling to allow Idaho to move forward on its own.
As the controversy surrounding Idaho’s maneuver has spread from the state to Washington, many legal and health policy experts have called the state’s move illegal.
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