Category: CHIR

Independent Dispute Resolution Process 2024 Data: High Volume, More Provider Wins

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While the independent dispute resolution (IDR) process is intended to lead to fair outcomes for out-of-network payment, new analysis demonstrates unexpectedly high use of the IDR process, mostly by private-equity-backed providers that win often and win large. In their latest piece for Health Affairs Forefront, Jack Hoadley, Kennah Watts, and Zachary Baron illustrate trends in the IDR process and explore implications for costs.

Testimony of Sabrina Corlette, J.D. before the U.S. House of Representatives Ways & Means Health Subcommittee – June 25, 2025

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The U.S. House of Representatives’ Ways & Means Health Subcommittee recently held a hearing about ways to advance digital health technologies. CHIR expert Sabrina Corlette was one of the invited panelists, warning the committee that, while these new technologies hold promise, consumers can only benefit from them if they have access to affordable, high quality health insurance.

Early 2026 Rate Filings Show Marketplace Policy Changes Contribute to Eye-Popping Rate Increases

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This year, insurers are setting their rates for 2026 while Congress and the administration weigh several policies that are projected to cause premiums to spike and the number of people with Marketplace coverage to plummet. In a new blog, CHIR experts investigate early 2026 rate filings and related analysis to explore how insurers are responding to an array of anticipated federal ACA policy changes and uncertainty around them.

Second Verse, Same as the First: Senate Reconciliation Language Failes to Fix Paperwork Burdens, Other Barriers to Marketplace Coverage

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With the passage of H.R.1, the House of Representatives’ version of the budget reconciliation bill that will advance President Trump’s domestic policy agenda, all eyes are turned towards the Senate. In a new CHIRblog, ACA experts Karen Davenport, Stacey Pogue, and Sabrina Corlette discuss how draft legislation emerging from the Senate would create enrollment barriers to Marketplace coverage that largely mirror the House’s reconciliation bill.

May Research Roundup: What We’re Reading

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In May, we welcomed spring blooms and warm weather, while staying engaged with the latest health policy research. This month we read about potential effects of the reconciliation bill on provider revenue and uncompensated care, Rhode Island’s affordability standards and their effects on hospital prices, and coverage retention and plan switching following changes in premiums.

Congress’ Proposed Paperwork Requirements Could Leave New Families, Laid-off Workers, and Self-Employed Without Health Coverage

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The Senate will soon consider the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” that would make changes to Marketplace eligibility and enrollment processes, potentially leaving millions, including new families, laid-off workers, and small business owners in a tangle of red tape and at risk of losing critical health coverage. CHIR’s Karen Davenport looks at who might be hurt by these policies.

New Administration Plans to Reinstate Cuts to Funding for ACA Outreach and Enrollment Assistance

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One of the first actions by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Trump administration was to make extreme cuts in funding for Navigators. In a blog post for the Commonwealth Fund, CHIR’s Rachel Swindle, Jalisa Clark, and Justin Giovannelli dispute the rationale behind the funding cuts presented by the Trump administration and highlight the gravity of reducing the Navigator program and outreach and enrollment assistance.

Can States Harness Market Power to Rein In Health Care Costs?

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As U.S. health care spending continues to spiral higher, states are using a variety of tools to push back. In a new book of essays, CHIR experts examine the impacts and limitations of three mechanisms through which states are leveraging their role as a contractor to lower health care prices in the private health insurance market and to advance broader policy goals.

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.