The Reconciliation Bill Eliminates Long-Standing State Flexibility to Operate Marketplaces and Regulate Private Health Insurance

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The budget reconciliation bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives would eliminate much of the flexibility granted to states over the operations of State-Based Marketplaces (SBMs), impose burdensome new requirements, and reduce their revenue base. In a new CHIRblog post, ACA experts Jason Levitis, Christen Linke-Young, Sabrina Corlette, Ellen Montz, and Claire O’Brien dive into the bill’s costly new mandates for states.

Congress’ Proposed Paperwork Requirements Could Leave New Families, Laid-off Workers, and Self-Employed Without Health Coverage

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The Senate will soon consider the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” that would make changes to Marketplace eligibility and enrollment processes, potentially leaving millions, including new families, laid-off workers, and small business owners in a tangle of red tape and at risk of losing critical health coverage. CHIR’s Karen Davenport looks at who might be hurt by these policies.

New Administration Plans to Reinstate Cuts to Funding for ACA Outreach and Enrollment Assistance

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One of the first actions by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Trump administration was to make extreme cuts in funding for Navigators. In a blog post for the Commonwealth Fund, CHIR’s Rachel Swindle, Jalisa Clark, and Justin Giovannelli dispute the rationale behind the funding cuts presented by the Trump administration and highlight the gravity of reducing the Navigator program and outreach and enrollment assistance.

Can States Harness Market Power to Rein In Health Care Costs?

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As U.S. health care spending continues to spiral higher, states are using a variety of tools to push back. In a new book of essays, CHIR experts examine the impacts and limitations of three mechanisms through which states are leveraging their role as a contractor to lower health care prices in the private health insurance market and to advance broader policy goals.

A New Rule to Limit ACA Enrollment Periods May Deter Sign-Ups and Worsen Risk Pools

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Recent proposals from the Trump administration and Congress would shorten or eliminate the windows of opportunity for people to enroll in the Affordable Care Act Marketplaces. In a recent article for the Commonwealth Fund, CHIR’s Sabrina Corlette and Rachel Swindle discuss how such policies would result in reduced access to coverage and higher costs for Marketplace enrollees.

Third-Party Administrators – The Middlemen Of Self-Funded Health Insurance

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Pharmacy benefit managers have received significant public attention for their exploitative, cost increasing practices, but similar practices of third-party administrators (TPAs) have received relatively little public attention. In their latest piece for Health Affairs Forefront, Karen Handorf, Christine Monahan, and Kennah Watts argue that understanding TPA business models and how they generate profits requires looking under the hood at their agreements with health care providers and other third-party intermediaries.

Considerations for Federal Agencies Tasked with Improving Health Plan Price Transparency Data

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While the health plan price transparency data available under current guidance and enforcement have proven challenging to access and use, a renewed focus under the Trump administration aims to improve Transparency in Coverage (TiC) data. In this blog, CHIR experts Stacey Pogue and Nadia Stovicek present insights into known issues with TiC machine-readable files, a recent executive order’s implications, and the issues that limit access to publicly available TiC data.

Health Insurance Transitions For Young People With Diabetes Can Be Life Threatening

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As Congress debates policies that would disenroll millions of people from both Medicaid and marketplace coverage, young adults living with diabetes could face coverage losses and challenges finding private insurance that is both comprehensive and affordable. In their latest piece for Health Affairs, Amy Killelea and Christine Monahan explore how variations in health insurance coverage can make health coverage transitions difficult for these young adults.

The Sleeper Provision in the Reconciliation Bill That Could Hobble the ACA Marketplaces

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An obscure provision in the U.S. House reconciliation bill could have major consequences for the Affordable Care Act Marketplaces. In a guest post for CHIRblog, the Urban Institute’s Jason Levitis and Brookings’ Visiting Fellow Christen Linke-Young dig into how this provision could radically change people’s ability to access and maintain affordable health insurance.

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.