Lawmakers ask White House to allow third-party premium payments

A group of 184 lawmakers want HHS to rescind an Obama-era policy that discouraged insurance companies from accepting payments from hospitals or other entities to buy insurance on the exchange for their patients.

The 2013 memo suggested insurers reject payments from hospitals, healthcare providers and commercial entities because those payments were given to people who could skew the risk pool on the exchanges.

Congressmen Wednesday wrote a bipartisan letter to HHS Secretary Tom Price saying the policy has resulted in insurers dropping their sickest and low-income enrollees.

"This practice essentially allows insurers to steer patients to the government or to other plans to avoid providing coverage."

Hospitals have been pushing back against the policy for years. In 2016, the American Hospital Association sent a letter to the CMS asking that the policy be reconsidered.

"Access to coverage and routine health care should take precedent over any concerns about the risk pool," the trade group said in the letter.

The lawmakers' letter urges HHS to swiftly issue a new policy that would allow not-for-profit charitable organizations, places of worship and local civic organizations to make premium payments on behalf of enrollees.