A study commissioned by consumer representatives to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) finds that consumers face significant challenges understanding the limitations of short-term health plans. These plans, championed by the Trump administration as a cheap alternative to ACA coverage, can leave consumers facing significant out-of-pocket costs if they have an unexpected medical event.
On March 28, 2019, a federal district court invalidated the Trump administration’s rule encouraging the formation of association health plans that would be exempt from many Affordable Care Act protections. In her latest “Expert Perspective” for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s State Health & Value Strategies project, CHIR’s Sabrina Corlette provides an update on the court ruling and implications for state insurance departments.
It is hard to find a starker example of the different approaches our two political parties take to health care than the events of March 26, 2019. CHIR’s Sabrina Corlette breaks down the Trump administration’s push to have the Affordable Care Act declared unconstitutional and a comprehensive bill to expand coverage and improve affordability, introduced just hours later by leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The federal government could be on the hook for billions of dollars in reimbursement to insurance companies, if recent court decisions relating to the elimination of the ACA’s cost-sharing reduction subsidies are upheld. Sabrina Corlette, in her latest Expert Perspective for the State Health & Value Strategies project, reviews the status of the litigation and the implications for state oversight of insurers’ 2020 premium rates.
Over the weekend we said goodbye to a dear friend. Rob Restuccia lost his 6-month battle against pancreatic cancer, but he never gave up the fight for health equity and justice. We pay tribute to his leadership, commitment and legacy. His life and work inspire us all.
In October, the Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services issued a proposed rule that aims to expand the “flexibility and use” of health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs). To understand reactions to the proposal, CHIR reviewed a sample of comments from state officials, insurers, consumer advocates, and employer, broker and benefit advisor groups. In Part 3 of this blog series, we highlight comments from nine employer, broker, and benefit advisory groups.
On February 6, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Education & Labor Committee held a hearing on threats to workers with pre-existing conditions. CHIR expert Sabrina Corlette was invited to testify and shares her statement here.
A recent Washington Post article touted the emergence of association health plans under recent Trump administration rules, noting their lower cost and generous benefits. But the truth is more complicated, as CHIR experts Kevin Lucia and Sabrina Corlette point out, noting that AHPs often rely on medical underwriting and low “teaser” rates to lure new members. As a result, history is littered with insolvencies and even fraud connected to these arrangements.
We are now in the midst of the longest-ever shutdown of U.S. government agencies, resulting in closed offices, furloughed workers, and discontinued services. CHIR’s Sabrina Corlette takes a look at how the shutdown is affecting the Affordable Care Act marketplaces.
Consolidation among hospitals and physician practices is driving a steady rise in health care costs. Employers who purchase insurance and the payers that negotiate on their behalf have a limited set of tools available to counter providers’ demands, but they have also displayed a complacency that has allowed prices to rise with little resistance. In a post for the Health Affairs blog, Sabrina Corlette, Jack Hoadley, and Katie Keith share findings from a series of market-level case studies on responses to provider consolidation.
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.
