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Amid uncertainty in Washington about the future of the Affordable Care Act, states are moving to bolster their own insurance markets, hoping to fend off big rate increases and pullbacks by insurers. Idaho, Oklahoma and Minnesota have passed bills that aim to blunt insurers’ costs for covering people who buy individual insurance and have health conditions that require expensive treatments. The measures would allow insurers to unload at least some of the expense of these enrollees’ claims onto state programs, typically using a version of reinsurance. (Wilde Mathews and Hackman, 4/23)

Access Health CT CEO James Wadleigh says he’s concerned that next year Anthem and ConnectiCare may quit Connecticut’s Affordable Care Act marketplace, where more than 100,000 Connecticut residents currently get their health coverage. (Radelat, 4/21)

President Trump and GOP congressional leaders have made a case that higher premium costs in Arizona are a key reason why the health law known as Obamacare needs to be repealed and replaced. ... Rates predictably skyrocketed this year. Arizona’s benchmark soared to the third-most-expensive among the same 44 states, according to HHS. (Alltucker, 4/24)