Author Archive: CHIR Faculty

More than 400,000 Lose Marketplace Coverage: Let’s Fix This and Keep People Covered

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This week federal officials released an updated marketplace enrollment report. While close to 10 million were enrolled in coverage as of June 2015, 400,000 people lost coverage because of citizenship data matching problems. In this blog post our colleague at Georgetown’s Center for Children and Families, Sonya Schwartz, notes that many who lost coverage are likely eligible but fell victim to marketplace system problems. She shares insights on how they could be fixed.

Affordable Care Act Legislation Affecting Small Employers Sparks Rare Bipartisanship

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Yesterday, the Health subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee had a hearing on H.R. 1624, a bill that if enacted, would repeal an ACA provision changing the definition of small employer to 1-100 employees. The bill would also allow states to determine the definition of the small group market; all states currently define the small group market as employers with 1-50 employees. CHIR’s Sandy Ahn shares highlights of the hearing and the debate over the impact on small businesses.

CMS Awards $67 Million to Assist Consumers with Accessing Coverage OE3 and Beyond

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Last week the federal agency responsible for implementing the Affordable Care Act awarded $67 million in grants to state and local organizations to serve as marketplace navigators. These groups will conduct outreach to consumers and help them enroll in affordable coverage options. Our colleague Tricia Brooks blogs about why navigators are so important and previews some critical future announcements.

Consumer Assistance and Tools Needed to Ensure that All Eligible Marketplace Enrollees Get Cost-Sharing Reductions

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A recent study has found that as many as 2.2 million people are missing out on Affordable Care Act cost-sharing subsidies that could make their insurance coverage more affordable. Our Center for Children and Families colleague, Tricia Brooks, discusses some critical tools the state and federal marketplaces could put in place to make sure consumers are getting the financial help they’re eligible for.

New Georgetown Report Calls for Harnessing of ‘Big Data’ for Better Health Plan Oversight and Consumer Protection

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Last week the Obama Administration took a small step forward to implement Affordable Care Act transparency rules. This week, CHIR researchers Sabrina Corlette, JoAnn Volk and Sandy Ahn released a new report outlining a new and powerful data collection and transparency framework that can help state and federal policymakers better understand how insurers are complying with new market rules and consumer protections.

How will Premium Rate Changes Affect Consumers’ Renewals into Marketplace Coverage? Lessons Learned from 2015’s Enrollment Season

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As states finalize premium rates for marketplace plans by August 25, we’ll know the extent of changes for 2016 coverage. How will premium changes affect consumers who may be automatically renewed into coverage? CHIR’s Sandy Ahn shares lessons learned from the first year of marketplace renewals and what can be done to improve consumers’ experiences as we head into the next open enrollment season.

Getting Ready for OE3 – New Kaiser Family Foundation Survey Provides Helpful Lessons

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We’re just 12 weeks away from the start of the third open enrollment period (OE3) for the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces. The results from a recently released Kaiser Family Foundation survey of health insurance Navigators and brokers offer some helpful insights on ways to improve consumer outreach and enrollment going forward. CHIR’s Hannah Ellison and Sabrina Corlette share some highlights.

New Report: The Experience of Six State-Based Marketplaces with First Year Renewals

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A new report from CHIR researchers Sandy Ahn, Jack Hoadley and Sabrina Corlette revisits six state-based marketplaces that took varying approaches to renewing enrollees into 2015 coverage. The report examines how their different approaches affected enrollment and the consumer experience, and shares lessons learned for the next round of marketplace renewals.

Proposed Premium Rate Increases for 2016: The Jury Is Still Out

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There’s been some hand-wringing over large proposed premium increases for health plans in 2016. But it’s important to remember that rate requests vary – a lot – by insurer and location. And that these rates are only proposed. They’re subject to regulatory scrutiny, and many proposed hikes may be reduced. In their latest blog post for the Commonwealth Fund, CHIR experts Sean Miskell and Dave Cusano discuss the drivers of 2016 premiums and states’ role in keeping coverage affordable.

Supporting Health Plan Oversight: Consumer Organization Directory for State Regulators

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In the wake of formal complaints that insurers are marketing health plans with discriminatory benefit designs, state insurance regulators are under increasing pressure to subject these plans to greater scrutiny. But with limited resources and manpower, states are feeling squeezed. As part of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation project to support states with Affordable Care Act implementation, CHIR researchers Kayla Connor and Sally McCarty created a directory of consumer organizations willing to partner with states to conduct plan analyses.

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.