Articles by Zachary Tracer

Trump Administration Encourages More Short-Term, Cheaper Health Plans

The Trump administration is proposing to expand the availability of short-term insurance plans, offering a cheaper health coverage option for consumers, while taking another step to undercut Obamacare. The Department of Health and Human Services proposed allowing short-term plans to …

Idaho’s ‘Freedom’ Plans Ignore Obamacare, But Have Limits

After Idaho’s Republican governor promised to find creative ways to get around Obamacare, one health plan in the state plans to offer skimpy coverage that may violate many of the law’s protections for patients. Blue Cross of Idaho said Wednesday …

Some Question CVS-Aetna Remodeling of Health Care

Walking the aisles of a CVS drugstore, there are piled paper towels, stacked cereal boxes, and neat lines of nail polish. In the back, there’s the pharmacy. For years, that approach has remained essentially unchanged despite a creeping reality: Every …

CVS to Pay $67.5B for Aetna to Create Giant Health Firm with ‘10,000 New Front Doors’

CVS Health Corp. will buy Aetna Inc. for about $67.5 billion, creating a healthcare giant that will have a hand in everything from insurance to the corner drugstore. CVS will pay $207 a share for Aetna, with $145 a share …

CVS Health Reported in Talks to Buy Aetna

Aetna Inc. gained in New York trading after the Wall Street Journal reported that CVS Health Corp. is in talks to buy the insurer for more than $66 billion. Aetna jumped 12 percent to $178.60, closing at a record high, …

Trump Ends Health Insurer Subsidy; Allows Association Health Plans, Expense Accounts

President Donald Trump’s administration took its most drastic step yet to roll back the Affordable Care Act, cutting off a subsidy to insurers hours after issuing an executive order designed to draw people away from the health law’s markets. The …

Third ‘No’ Appears to Kill Latest Senate GOP Bid to Repeal Obamacare

Senator Susan Collins punctured any remaining GOP hopes of repealing Obamacare anytime soon, dealing a fatal blow by rejecting a last-gasp Republican health care bill. The Maine Republican became the third GOP senator to oppose the measure, issuing a blistering …

Senate GOP Appears Short of Votes to Pass Graham-Cassidy Health Care Bill

Senators sponsoring a last-ditch Obamacare repeal bill raced to save it from near-certain death Sunday, circulating a new version aimed at winning over several GOP holdouts. Some of the changes, which come as Republicans face a Sept. 30 deadline to …

Insurers Oppose Latest Republican Obamacare Repeal Effort

Insurance-industry groups said Wednesday that they oppose a Republican proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, joining health-care providers in asking Senators to reject the bill. America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association said …

Trump Cuts to Affordable Care Act’s Advertising Concern Law’s Supporters

The Trump administration’s plan to slash spending on getting people to sign up for Obamacare will further undermine the law’s already fragile health insurance markets, according to health experts, insurers and people who helped implement the law. Last Thursday, the …