President Donald Trump has voiced an “ironclad pledge” to protect patients with pre-existing conditions, but his 2021 budget proposal, which repeats this promise, is silent on how he would do that. At the same time, the Trump administration has taken numerous actions that undermine the Affordable Care Act, including its support of a lawsuit to overturn the ACA and its key protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
Beginning February 24, 2020, new rules that expand the criteria for determining whether certain immigrants would be considered a “public charge” are going into effect. While appeals of these new expanded rules make their way through the courts, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the policy may take effect in all states except Illinois, where a separate injunction remains statewide. As the changing rules can be confusing for consumers and assisters, we’ve updated our Navigator Resource Guide to help break it down.
To kick off 2020, CHIR’s Olivia Hoppe reviews studies on out-of-network billing from hospital-based physicians, the Affordable Care Act’s effect on racial and ethnic access disparities, health care market consolidation, and 2020 marketplace premiums and insurer participation.
In Congress and state legislatures across the country, policymakers are debating fixes to surprise medical bills. The federal government has yet to enact comprehensive reforms, but a number of states have taken steps to protect consumers. One such state is Texas, which last year enacted a new law holding consumers harmless in situations that commonly lead to surprise medical bills. However, the state’s new protections were almost gutted due to an implementation loophole, a cautionary tale for federal and state policymakers. CHIR’s Rachel Schwab takes a look at what happened in Texas.
New polling finds the public option plan is popular, but how are such proposals faring in the states? A new report from Georgetown CHIR assesses states’ efforts to enact public option plans and opportunities and challenges for future action.
Open Enrollment ended in most states on December 15, 2019. In the remaining states, Open Enrollment ends this month. For the majority of Americans who enrolled in health insurance before the December 15 deadline and paid their first premium, insurance should now be kicking in. We’ve collected a series of frequently asked questions from our Navigator Resource Guide on post-enrollment issues to help consumers navigate their first few months of having a new insurance plan.
On January 15th and 16th, 2020, the U.S. Department of Transportation held the inaugural Air Ambulance and Patient Billing Advisory Committee meeting. Established by the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, the Committee is tasked with reviewing “options to improve the disclosure of charges and fees for air medical services, better inform consumers of insurance options for such services, and protect consumers from balance billing.” CHIR’s Maanasa Kona discusses some of the key takeaways from the meeting.
This month, CHIR’s Olivia Hoppe reviews studies about the relationship between insurance and mortality ahead, insurance rates between men and women, and the effect of silver-loading on rural premiums.
Last fall, the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance documented that the UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company had committed several violations of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). Other states are also increasing their oversight efforts. However, over ten years after the law was enacted, federal and state insurance regulators are still working to insure consumers have the protections promised under the law. CHIR’s Madeline O’Brien explains what MHPAEA is, how it is enforced, and recent CHIR efforts to support effective oversight.
State lawmakers across the country are are gearing up for a new legislative session. Many will be considering state-level protections for consumers to prevent surprise out-of-network medical bills. Just as with the federal legislation, however, one of the key sticking points for state policymakers will be how to approach out-of-network provider reimbursement. To aid stakeholders in these efforts, Community Catalyst teamed up with CHIR experts to create a guide for its health insurance reform toolkit: The Advocate’s Guide to Addressing Out-Of-Network Payment in Surprise Balance Billing Legislation.
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.
