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In May New Jersey imposed a health-insurance mandate requiring all residents to buy insurance or pay a penalty. More states will feel pressure to follow suit in the coming year as the federal mandate’s penalty disappears Jan. 1 and state legislatures reconvene, some with new Democratic majorities intent on “protecting” ObamaCare. But conflicts with federal law will make state-level health-insurance mandates ineffective or unduly onerous, and governors and legislatures would do well to steer clear. (Chris Jacobs, 11/18)

In nearly 800 days, a Democratic president and Congress may take office. This is not as far away as it sounds. If Democrats want the chance to pass health reforms that will build on the Affordable Care Act and fix its defects, they need to start planning now. The Democrats’ House victories in the midterms are an important step in that direction. Medicaid will expand in Idaho, Nebraska and Utah, thanks to ballot initiatives, and could expand in Kansas, Maine and Wisconsin, thanks to those states’ new Democratic governors-elect. (Harold Pollack, 11/17)

Voters in Idaho, Nebraska and Utah tend to skew conservative politically, and the last time they supported a Democratic president was in 1964. Yet on Nov. 6, voters in all three states passed Medicaid expansion referendums after their governments failed to act. To succeed, these referendums needed a key voting bloc to look past its self-interest: college graduates with bachelor’s degrees. (David Matsa, 11/19)

Sticking with health care, the extent to which Republicans pretended to be the defenders of preexisting coverage suggests we’ve won that part of the argument. Yet one thing that’s clear in today’s non-representative politics is that you can win a policy argument and lose the policy. Republicans are actively pursuing a legal strategy to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and I urge you to pay close attention to the Trump administration’s sabotage efforts, including skimpy coverage that exempts people from key consumer protections, along with attempts to destabilize the individual insurance market. (Jared Bernstein, 11/15)

At a time when Americans are looking for help to lower health-care costs, a tax on Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans called the Health Insurance Tax (HIT) would be detrimental for millions of disabled and older adults who do not have the resources to absorb an increase in out of pocket costs.Currently, the scheduled $16 billion tax will impact over 20 million seniors and disabled individuals enrolled in Medicare Advantage. Congress recognized the negative consequences of this tax and wisely delayed the HIT in 2019. Without Congressional action in the lame-duck session, the tax will return in 2020 creating instability, raising costs for beneficiaries, and reducing access to the coverage beneficiaries value its affordability, simplicity, supplemental benefits and care management. (Former Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz (D-Pa.), 11/16)