Tag: rate review

Looking Under the Hood: “Enhanced” Rate Review to Improve Affordability

A handful of states are working to improve health insurance affordability by boosting their insurance department’s rate review authority and empowering regulators to look “under the hood” at the prices commercial insurance companies negotiate for health care goods and services. In a recently released report, CHIR experts share findings from a 50-state assessment of rate review programs.

August Research Roundup: What We’re Reading

As summer was winding down, CHIR was reading up on the latest health policy research. In August, we read about differences between Medicare Advantage and commercial plans’ negotiated hospital prices, the affordability of employer-sponsored insurance for older adults, and the expected growth of 2024 Affordable Care Act Marketplace premiums.

Early Rate Filings Show Premium Increases, Rising Costs of Care

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has published proposed rate changes for 2024 Marketplace plans. In some states, insurers submitted rate requests earlier in the summer, alongside justifications for the proposed changes to next year’s premiums. CHIR dug into the rate requests from select states with early rate filing deadlines to see what’s behind the premiums consumers could be facing in 2024, both on- and off-Marketplace.

Averting Premium Shock for Marketplace Consumers

The American Rescue Plan Act has led to record-high marketplace enrollment and significant savings for millions of consumers. But the law’s enhanced marketplace subsidies are set to lapse at the end of the year. In a new post for the Commonwealth Fund’s To the Point blog, Katie Keith explains why there is urgency for Congress to act sooner rather than later.

Encouraging Signs for the Public Option in Washington State: Improved Availability and Affordability of Plans in 2022

This open enrollment, Washington State residents can once again purchase first-in-the-nation public option-style plans. Last year, Washington’s publicly procured plans—touted as a mechanism to improve affordability and competition in the marketplace—were less available and more expensive than proponents had hoped. In 2022, the second year of the program, these plans will offer average rate decreases and are available in a greater number of counties, an encouraging sign for the viability of Washington’s public option.

October Research Roundup: What We’re Reading

In our newest monthly roundup of health policy research, CHIR intern Madison Berry reviews studies evaluating the impact of extending the American Rescue Plan’s subsidy expansion, COVID-19’s effect on health spending, and the importance of continuous marketplace coverage for pregnant people.

“As if COVID-19 Did Not Exist”: Health Plans Prepare for 2022 in Early Rate Filings

Several states ask for – and publicly post – health insurers’ proposed 2022 premium rates in May and June. These early rate filings can provide hints about how insurers are responding to market trends, policy changes, and emerging drivers of health care costs. CHIR’s Sabrina Corlette took a deep dive into insurers’ actuarial memos to find out how they’re thinking about health care spending after COVID-19, the American Rescue Plan, and more.

Stable Rates Reflect Strength of ACA Marketplaces

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many predicted that insurers would need to dramatically hike their premiums. As it turned out, the opposite occurred, with average rates declining for 2021. In an Expert Perspective post for the State Health & Value Strategies program, CHIR’s Sabrina Corlette and Manatt Health’s Joel Ario examine the factors that led to a stable year for ACA insurance rates.

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the individual blog post authors and do not represent the views of Georgetown University, the Center on Health Insurance Reforms, any organization that the author is affiliated with, or the opinions of any other author who publishes on this blog.