POLITICO Pulse - POLITICO.com

POLITICO Pulse - POLITICO.com: "WHAT PROGRESSIVES WILL BE TALKING ABOUT TODAY —Health Care for America Now is holding a press call today to decry what the group is calling a loophole in the Senate bill that would allow insurers to charge people with pre-existing conditions more — a violation of one of reform’s central tenets. Under current law, employers can vary the rates they charge their employees by 20 percent, based on health factors. The wiggle room allows employers and insures to offer discounts to employees who take part in workplace wellness programs. But the Senate bill increases that variance to 30 percent and gives the administration discretion to further increase it to 50 percent. Progressives argue the move will allow employers to give discounts to healthier people while charging sicker people more — the same practice reform is suppose to curtail. And it allows 10 states to launch pilot programs that test the practice in the individual market. Progressives are pushing to exclude the provision from the final bill and leave the variance at 20 percent, as it stands under current law."