On October 22, 2018, the Trump administration released new guidance on Section 1332 waivers established by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This replaced earlier guidance released in 2015 and substantially changed the standards for evaluating waiver applications. While waiver activity to date has been limited and mostly used to implement state reinsurance programs to help reduce the cost of ACA-compliant individual market policies, the new guidance may encourage states to use 1332 waiver authority to make broader changes to insurance coverage for their residents, including to promote the sale of, and apply subsidies to, ACA non-compliant policies. On November 29, 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a discussion paper outlining a set of waiver concepts designed to provide states with a roadmap for developing waiver applications that use the flexibility granted under the new guidance. This issue brief describes the new guidance, highlighting key changes from the 2015 guidance, describes how state waiver activity may change, particularly in light of the waiver concepts put forward by CMS, and discusses possible implications of the changes.
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