Millions of college students traveled home last week for Thanksgiving and it’s likely the Affordable Care Act came up for discussion at the dinner table, perhaps with mom’s prodding. CHIR’s JoAnn Volk covers some common questions that students and young adults may have about their coverage options.
Almost two months into open enrollment, Navigators and other consumer assisters must field a multitude of questions about plan options inside the marketplace and out, how individual and employer-sponsored coverage may change as a result of the ACA, and whether consumers have the coverage they need to satisfy the individual mandate. Today, CHIR released a Navigator Resource Guide that helps Navigators explain key insurance and marketplace concepts and accurately answer a wide range of questions.
As ACA implementation unfolds, one group that will be transitioning to new coverage is individuals enrolled in state-run high risk pools. Because these individuals have such significant health care needs, their transition to new coverage raises potential concerns, especially for those who use their high risk pool plan to supplement their Medicare coverage. In this blog, JoAnn Volk takes a look at those transition issues and how some states are responding.
Until the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented, there are gaps in our system of health coverage that can mean some families either go without coverage or must deplete their savings to afford it. But the new Health Insurance Marketplaces can help fill that gap with affordable, adequate coverage.
An energetic college senior found himself on a life detour when he was diagnosed with stage 3 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma – and almost immediately confronted with a maze of insurance denials and medical bills, until he was able to enroll in one of the high risk pools created under the Affordable Care Act. JoAnn Volk documents the story of Kalwis Lo, now 24 and looking forward to a lifetime of secure, meaningful coverage, thanks to the ACA.
The Diane Rehm show took a look this week at workplace wellness programs – what they are, how they’re working and how they may change under the Affordable Care Act. JoAnn Volk was asked to participate to discuss consumers’ concerns with these programs, and she shares some of the key highlights here.
An often overlooked part of the workplace wellness rule is the application of “carrots and sticks” to family coverage, potentially making coverage unaffordable for families. In this blog, originally posted on the Say Ahhh blog at CCF, JoAnn Volk takes a look at how families fare under the proposed rule.
In this latest story in our ongoing series, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we look at how the ACA's ban on insurers discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions helps one family look ahead to their daughter's future with more security. JoAnn Volk brings us one family's story.
Entrepreneurs with dreams of venturing out to start their own business must now navigate a “wild west” of inadequate and unaffordable insurance options. But the Affordable Care Act’s reforms will change that for entrepreneurs like Joe and Virginia Murphy. JoAnn Volk tells their story.
With the fast approach to open enrollment for the new health insurance marketplaces, there is growing interest in navigators and other assisters who will help people learn about their coverage options and get enrolled. JoAnn Volk explains how CHIR will be adding to the private insurance knowledge and support for navigators and assisters with a quick reference guide on private health insurance and the reforms of the ACA.
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.
