The 2024 election results will require concerted and aggressive efforts to preserve gains in insurance coverage, improvements in health equity, and greater health care affordability. CHIR’s faculty share thoughts on the work ahead.
While the weather may be cooling down, the research is not! This month we read about Medicare Advantage quality bonus payments, out-of-pocket drug costs for consumers, effects of enhanced premium tax credits on older adults, and strategies to increase eligibility verification and receipt of Marketplace subsidies.
CHIR expert Christine Monahan recently testified before the Texas House Insurance Committee regarding outpatient facility fee billing. Her research highlights how facility fees contribute to significantly higher healthcare costs. In her testimony, she discussed measures to curtail hospital billing tactics that inflate costs and ways to mitigate financial burdens on patients.
Reinsurance has been a popular mechanism to stabilize insurance markets and reduce premiums. However, some argue that it could negatively affect affordability and enrollment for low-income individuals. In a new article for the State Health & Value Strategies program, Jason Levitis, Sabrina Corlette, and Claire O’Brien review the evidence and discuss considerations for state reinsurance programs.
J.D. Vance, candidate for Vice President of the United States, has called for replacing the ACA’s insurance reforms with “high risk pools” for people with pre-existing conditions. CHIR’s Sabrina Corlette revisits how high risk pools worked (or more often, didn’t work) for people, prior to the ACA.
A debate is looming for the U.S. Congress – whether or not to extend enhanced premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act insurance coverage. In their latest article for Health Affairs, Jason Levitis, Sabrina Corlette, and Claire O’Brien identify several reasons Congress needs to act as soon as possible to preserve coverage and prevent a spike in premiums.
A recently enacted law creates a streamlined pathway to health insurance for individuals who are found ineligible for Medi-Cal but are likely eligible for Marketplace subsidies. In a recent report, CHIR experts assess the critical policy and operational decisions to implement the program and how these choices have affected consumers’ coverage transitions.
The No Surprises Act (NSA) protects consumers from unexpected medical bills, with disputes between payers and providers settled through independent dispute resolution (IDR). CHIR’s Jack Hoadley and Kennah Watts review the latest results from the IDR process and discuss the ongoing legal and regulatory challenges affecting the NSA.
In response to widespread concerns about the impact of medical debt, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed a rule in June 2024 aimed at limiting the influence of medical debt on credit reports and preventing certain debt collection practices. Despite recent changes by credit agencies to exclude small medical debts from reports, many Americans still face significant medical debt, particularly affecting vulnerable populations. In a recent piece for Health Affairs Forefront, Georgetown experts examine this proposed rule and the effect it could have on consumers.
Health insurers use of prior authorization appears to be on the rise. A recent report by CHIR researchers examines four states’ prior authorization policies for the commercial market to identify potential reform strategies to ease provider burden and improve patient access without also increasing insurers’ costs.
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.
