Category: Health reform

New Marketplace Research: Off-Marketplace Consumers and How Marketplace Enrollees Fare in Expansion and Nonexpansion States

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Two new studies captured our attention recently. One, from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services examines enrollment in coverage inside and outside the health insurance marketplaces. The other, from Urban Institute researchers, examines different enrollment experiences between Medicaid expansion and non-expansion states. The Center for Children & Families’ Karina Wagnerman takes a closer look.

New and Improved Navigator Resource Guide

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There’s a national election approaching but it isn’t for President. In just one week, consumers can vote for a new health plan on the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces. To help them through that process, CHIR is proud to re-launch the Navigator Resource Guide, a searchable, online resource for close to 300 frequently asked questions about private health insurance and the marketplaces.

The End of SHOP as We Know It?

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There’s a provision tucked into a recently proposed federal rule that could effectively destroy the Affordable Care Act-created health insurance marketplaces for small businesses, called the “SHOPs”. Sabrina Corlette takes a look.

Enrollees Aren’t Abusing Marketplace Grace Period

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Insurers and other critics have called on the Obama Administration to shorten the 3-month grace period for paying overdue health plan premiums, asserting that consumers are abusing it. But as documented by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ Tara Straw, such concerns reflect a misunderstanding of how grace periods work and are refuted by enrollment and disenrollment data.

The Affordable Care Act: Efforts to Address Barriers to Health Equity

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Disparities in health insurance coverage and accessing health care continue to be a challenge in the United States. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has made impressive strides to reduce overall health disparity by ensuring that health equity exists with health insurance coverage and accessing care. Current CHIR intern and guest blogger, Julia Embry, summarizes some of the ACA’s progress to address health equity in the United States.

The Ever-Shrinking Pilot to Inform Consumers About Health Plans’ Network Size

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The agency running the federal health insurance marketplace announced on September 30 they would provide information on the size of health plans’ provider networks in just four states “at some point” during the coming open enrollment season. This is a dramatic roll back from the anticipated availability of the system in 34 states in 2017. Sabrina Corlette takes a look at the latest guidance and what it means for consumers.

Hand-Wringing Over the Affordable Care Act Forgets How Very Far We Have Come

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The latest round of news about insurance company exits and price increases in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces has sparked more hand-wringing about the future of the law. But to truly assess how the law is working, we need to remember where we were, before the ACA, and how far we have come. Sabrina Corlette takes us down memory lane.

Future of Children’s Health Coverage Series Brief #2: Rethinking Pediatric Dental Coverage

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Inadequate coverage of children’s dental health can lead to serious health problems and long-term consequences by impairing children’s ability to eat, sleep and perform well in school. In their latest in a series of issue briefs on the future of children’s health coverage, Georgetown’s Center for Children & Families examines the state of children’s dental health coverage and provides recommendations to policymakers to help ensure kids get the care they need.

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.