Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker received federal approval Sunday to enact a reinsurance program, which should lower individual market premiums next year. It joins Alaska, Minnesota and Oregon in receiving such a federal waiver. And Maine Governor Paul LePage got a similar nod on Monday to reinstate that state's reinsurance program.
Both governors have been vocally opposed to the Affordable Care Act, seeking to dismantle the health reform law and refusing to expand Medicaid.
The $200 million effort in Wisconsin will use federal and state funds to protect insurers from costly Affordable Care Act claims. Walker expects premiums will be roughly 11% lower, on average, than they would have been without the program. Actual rates that people pay should decline by an average of 3.5% compared to this year, he said.
