In the past month, new research highlights the regressive effects of high health plan cost sharing. In our first post for CHIRblog’s new What We’re Reading series, CHIR’s Olivia Hoppe dives into some recent health insurance and financial equity research.
The Trump administration is expected to reverse federal limitations on short-term insurance, which does not have to comply with Affordable Care Act rules like preexisting condition protections. In their latest post for the Commonwealth Fund’s To the Point blog, CHIR’s Dania Palanker, Kevin Lucia, Sabrina Corlette, and Maanasa Kona examine how ten states currently regulate the short-term insurance market.
Idaho has just published rules for new, “state-based” health plans that are exempt from many of the Affordable Care Act protections for people with pre-existing conditions. CHIR’s Sabrina Corlette examines the legality of Idaho’s action, as well as its potential impact on consumers and the health insurance marketplace.
In a recent brief for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s State Health & Value Strategies program, CHIR’s Sabrina Corlette provides an overview of proposed federal rules expanding the availability of association health plans and assesses the implications for state insurance regulation.
The final 2019 Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters has been submitted to the White House for review. The initial proposal included a number of changes to the Affordable Care Act’s essential health benefits, marketplace operations, and other consumer protections. In this final post in a series of blogs analyzing public comments on the proposed rules, CHIR’s Dania Palanker examines responses from Departments of Insurance and state-based marketplaces to better understand who the rule could impact.
The final 2019 Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters has been submitted to the White House for review. The initial proposal included a number of changes to the Affordable Care Act’s essential health benefits, marketplace operations, and other consumer protections. In this second post in a series of blogs analyzing public comments on the proposed rules, CHIR’s Rachel Schwab examines responses from a range of consumer advocacy groups to better understand who the rule could impact.
Heading into open enrollment for 2018 marketplace coverage, experts predicted far fewer people would sign up for coverage. Despite the obstacles working against a successful open enrollment, sign-ups came close to last year’s tally: federally facilitated marketplaces (FFMs) logged 8.8 million plan selections, including close to 2.5 million new consumers, by the close of open enrollment on December 15th, nearing the 9.2 million plan selection from the previous year in just half the time. CHIR’s Olivia Hoppe and JoAnn Volk take a look at what explains the better-than-expected results.
Blink and you may have missed it – open enrollment for HealthCare.gov was much shorter this year and ended on December 15th. But many people will have extra time to sign up if they’re in a plan that’s being discontinued. CHIR’s Sandy Ahn answers some frequently asked questions about consumers’ options if they’re in this circumstance.
With the close of Open Enrollment for federally run marketplaces last week, preliminary reports suggest this year’s total sign-ups will be fewer than prior years. The Administration also recently released data that calls into question the value of Navigators, noting that they accounted for less than 1 percent of customers who were signed up by federally funded navigator organizations in 2016. CHIR’s Olivia Hoppe explains how these data fail to tell the whole story.
The Alexander-Murray bill to fund the Affordable Care Act’s cost-sharing subsidies could be included in an end-of-year budget deal. It includes provisions requiring states to make some quick decisions on an issue that many may have thought was put to bed. CHIR’s Justin Giovannelli provides an overview of what states may need to do, and when, if Alexander-Murray passes.
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.
