Fierce Healthcare (4/5, Sweeney) reports that CMS intends “to ‘wind down’ support for the federal exchanges by the time open enrollment hits in 2019 and shift funding to states.” In order for this plan “to work, the agency is relying on Congress to do something it failed to do several times last year: Pass an ACA repeal.” The article says CMS laid out “its plan in a fiscal year 2019 budget justification (PDF) released this week that outlines a $403 million cut to its program operations budget next year.” The piece adds that in February, HHS Secretary Alex Azar “said the grant program proposed under the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson bill ‘will help states stabilize their insurance market and provide for a smooth transition away from Obamacare.’”