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The Trump administration on Tuesday approved a plan letting Alaska set up a federally funded reinsurance program to shore up the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace, a model that other states will likely emulate. The state sought a waiver to use ACA money to reimburse insurers for their costliest customers. Customers receiving the subsidies wouldn’t know the government is footing the bill. (Hackman, 7/11)

Since the 1970s, as America’s income gap has widened, one of the most powerful drivers of inequality has been the growing cost of health care. The ACA, President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement, expanded the safety net for people such as Harrod, who lived one bad turn away from financial disaster, extending coverage to about 20 million Americans and cutting the share of uninsured by almost half since 2013. Soon, it may be a thing of the past. Senate Republicans, having returned from their July 4 break, resumed negotiations to replace Obamacare with legislation that could lead to 15 million fewer people being insured next year, and 22 million fewer by 2026, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. (Tozzi, 7/11)