Trump Administration Cuts Navigator Funding

In a win for Big “I” members, earlier this week, the Trump Administration announced that it would cut funding for navigators from $36 million to $10 million annually. The Administration had already made major cuts to navigator funding last year, and the new total is substantially lower than the $63 million President Obama budgeted annually for navigators.

In its announcement, the Trump Administration noted that navigators enrolled fewer than 1% of Americans who signed up for Affordable Care Act coverage in 2018. The Big “I” has continuously advocated against funding navigators and believes agents and brokers are best suited to help consumers meet their health care needs.

In other health care news, the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means committee marked up several health care-related bills on Wednesday. Many would take steps to expand access to health savings accounts.

One of the bills—H.R. 4616, sponsored by Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pennsylvania) and Devin Nunes (R-California)— would delay implementation of the “Cadillac Tax” for an additional year, until 2023. The Big “I” continues to advocate for the full repeal of this onerous tax on employer-sponsored health care.

Wyatt Stewart is Big “I” senior director of federal government affairs.