Iowa’s Republican Gov. Kimberly Reynolds signed a state law Monday that lets some insurers skirt Obamacare regulations.
The law would let the Iowa Farm Bureau and Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield sell health plans to the farm bureau’s members that ignore the mandates.
The mandates require insurers to cover essential health benefits such as maternity care or hospitalization and also prevents insurers from charging sick people higher prices.
Another part of the law would expound on a proposed regulation from the Trump administration to expand access to association health plans, which also skirt the law’s insurer regulations. Smaller employers and individuals can band together to buy the health plans.
Critics of Obamacare have said that the mandates have caused premiums to soar, while supporters say they have created higher quality health plans for Americans. Obamacare supporters have also criticized Trump’s move as plans to sell “junk” insurance.
[Iowa pulls Obamacare waiver, calling law ‘inflexible’ and ‘unworkable’]
Iowa’s Obamacare exchange, which sells plans on the individual market, had one insurer selling plans in 2018. Wellmark agreed to rejoin the exchange in 2019 after deciding to not sell plans for the 2018 coverage year.
The lone insurer for 2018 proposed to raise premiums by 57 percent.
The Trump administration has not said if it will allow the Farm Bureau and Wellmark to offer the plans. The legislation argues that the plans aren’t considered insurance and therefore don’t have to abide by Obamacare’s rules.
Idaho asked for a federal waiver to sell plans on the exchanges that don’t meet Obamacare’s mandates. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services denied the waiver because it contradicted Obamacare, which remains federal law.
