In a new post for the Commonwealth Fund’s To the Point blog, Katie Keith highlights several Affordable Care Act requirements that have not been fully utilized by insurers — resulting in gaps that exacerbate disparities. The post identifies examples where insurers and regulators could do more to turn commitment on health equity and racial justice into action.
July’s latest health policy research is provided by CHIR’s Nia Gooding in our monthly roundup. She reviews studies on health equity and health plan benefit design, 2022 insurer rate filings, and employer market power in hospital price negotiations.
CHIR researchers have teamed up once again with the Urban Institute to assess how federal policy is affecting the market for small business health insurance. This year, the COVID-19 pandemic was front-of-mind, but so too are coverage options exempt from the Affordable Care Act and newly available incentives to shift employees to the individual market.
The federal government is moving forward with standardized benefit designs via HealthCare.gov, following in the footsteps of several states. In their latest post for the Commonwealth Fund’s To the Point blog, CHIR experts Justin Giovannelli, Rachel Schwab, and Kevin Lucia assess the experience of these states with standardized plans and draw lessons for federal officials.
As Congress considers a variety of proposals to address prescription drug prices, there is a growing trend of states capping the out of pocket costs for insulin. CHIR’s Megan Houston considers the impact of insulin copay caps and how states are limited in their efforts to tackle prescription drug prices.
For June’s monthly roundup of health policy research, Nia Gooding reviewed studies on ground ambulance rides and surprise medical bills, the ways health plan pricing mechanisms affect health disparities, and the impact of using auto-enrollment to achieve universal coverage.
Starting July 1, those who faced a job loss in 2021 may be eligible for extra financial assistance on the marketplace. CHIR’s Megan Houston breaks down this provision of the American Rescue Plan and how consumers can access these benefits.
The Biden administration has released its first major set of proposed rules governing the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. In her latest Expert Perspective for the State Health & Value Strategies project, CHIR’s Sabrina Corlette assesses the implications for state-based marketplaces and insurance regulators.
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.
Washington State enacted a first-of-its-kind public option, with the state-procured plans available beginning in 2020. But the inaugural year yielded underwhelming results, with fewer than 2,000 people enrolled in the plans and premiums that were on average higher than the prior year’s rates. After identifying several barriers to the program’s success, Washington enacted legislation this year to bolster the state’s public option.
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.
