On September 28, 2023, Paragon President Brian Blase was quoted in Politico‘s story “The Trump health insurance policy that Biden hasn’t scrapped.”
From the article:
And Brian Blase, a former Trump policy adviser who helped shepherd the ICHRA rule, argues the arrangements actually bolster the ACA by bringing younger, healthier workers into Obamacare plans.
“I’d say Democrats need to figure out whether they support Obamacare or oppose Obamacare,” he said. “ICHRAs are only able to be used for Obamacare [compliant] plans, so if Democrats think Obamacare plans are valuable for people, then their opposition to ICHRAs doesn’t make any sense, and I think they are confused or they don’t know what they’re talking about.”
Blase, who’s now the president of the right-leaning Paragon Health Institute, contends that the Biden administration hasn’t touched Trump’s ICHRA rule because it would be a “major undertaking” to unwind the regulation, and “they would have to go through very time intensive notice and comment rulemaking.”
“They don’t have the bandwidth, time or motivation, and why would they want to rescind a rule that expands Obamacare coverage?” Blase said. “It would make some of their past positions just totally look hypocritical.”
The Biden administration has curtailed or attempted to reverse several other Trump health policies, including short-term health plans and regulations that cut funding for Obamacare marketplace operations.
