Trump scuttles Obamacare change, Sen. Brown says

Feb. 17--President Donald Trump's administration has scuttled plans to allow health insurers to charge older sicker customers more than three times the rates they charge healthier customers, a practice that is prohibited under the Affordable Care Act, according to a statement released from Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

The Trump administration had been considering the change to the health insurance law, otherwise known as Obamacare, to help convince insurers to remain in the public health insurance exchanges created under the health care law.

Several major insurers have already either dropped out or announced plans to drop out of the Obamacare exchanges, including health insurance giant Humana,which said it would exit the Obamacare exchanges in 2018 because its costs to provide coverage far outpace its premium and other revenue in the exchange.

But in a letter from Brown and his Senate colleagues, the lawmakers urged the Trump Administration not to roll back current protections that prevent health insurance companies from charging older Americans more. The letter noted that before Obamacare became law, insurance companies routinely charged older Americans as much as 25 times more for health insurance than their younger, healthier members.

"Older Ohioans should not have to pay more for health insurance in order to bolster profit margins for insurance company executives," Brown said. "While I am glad the administration has heeded our call to abandon this proposal, I will continue to work with my colleagues to fight actions that would overturn health care protections currently in place at the expense of Ohioans."

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