You have to give them credit – health insurers are showing just how creative they can be at shirking their obligation to provide new consumer protections under the Affordable Care Act. Sabrina Corlette takes a look at one of their latest tactics.
Last week was a busy week for those focused on robust consumer assistance in the new health insurance marketplaces. The Department of Health and Human Services announced new navigator grants and released training materials for navigators and other consumer assisters. Sabrina Corlette takes a look at the grantees and dives into the new training modules.
A recent Administration decision allows employers and group health plans to delay an Affordable Care Act requirement capping enrollees out-of-pocket costs. In the second of two blogs examining the decision, David Cusano reviews the rationale for the delay and suggests ways insurers and employers can reduce harm to consumers.
This week the New York Times reported on an Administration decision to allow employers and group health plans to delay until 2015 an Affordable Care Act requirement to provide enrollees with a cap on their out-of-pocket costs. David Cusano takes a look at what the Administration’s decision says – and does not say – and what it means for group health plans.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General recently examined the progress of the new Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans (CO-OPs), created under the ACA. Their report shows that the CO-OPs are mostly meeting key milestones, but also face some tough challenges. Sabrina Corlette takes a closer look.
Today, CHIR released a new report exploring how private insurers and state regulators are incorporating and enforcing new nondiscrimination standards under the Affordable Care Act. Katie Keith, one of the report’s authors, has highlights from the report and discusses what the findings mean for these new protections.
The Affordable Care Act requires the Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) participating in health insurance exchanges to report on quality measures and implement quality improvement strategies. In December, HHS issued a Request for Information Regarding Health Care Quality for Exchanges in preparation for implementing these initiatives. In this blog, Sarah Dash provides a real-life illustration of why these quality improvement efforts are needed.
Health insurance is a complicated product that consumers have difficulty understanding, a common theme throughout Wednesday’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing on “The Power of Transparency: Giving Consumers the Information They Need to Make Smart Choices in the Health Insurance Market.” Fortunately, new tools are already available to help consumers shop for and compare coverage, and more will become available as Affordable Care Act implementation continues to roll out.
A number of states have acted in recent years to exempt health care sharing ministries from traditional insurance market rules. Katie Dunton examines this trend, the implications under the Affordable Care Act, and the impact on consumers.
Last week the Administration released its final rule implementing the ACA's insurance market reforms. Many of these provisions have generated deserved attention for the important protections they'll bring to consumers. Getting less attention, but just as important, are the rule's rate review provisions. Sabrina Corlette takes a look.
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.
