A new issue brief published by the Commonwealth Fund and authored by CHIR’s newest faculty member, Dania Palanker, examines exclusions in insurance policies sold on the ACA marketplaces and finds that several have a disproportionate impact on women, limiting their access to care. Dania shares some highlights.
Small-business owners face unique challenges covering their employees; to lower barriers and increase options, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) created the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP). In a new blog published by The Commonwealth Fund, CHIR experts Emily Curran, Sabrina Corlette, and Kevin Lucia evaluate the current state of these marketplaces three years into implementation.
Limited networks have become increasingly common on ACA marketplaces, comprising almost half of all offerings during the first two years of the exchanges. In a new policy brief for Health Affairs, CHIR experts Justin Giovannelli, Kevin Lucia, and Sabrina Corlette examine what the states and the federal government are doing to ensure that marketplace plan networks are adequate and transparent.
Despite declining funding, enrollment through the state-based marketplaces increased nearly nine percent during the third open enrollment period. To learn what assistance and outreach strategies were most effective in attracting consumers, we surveyed marketplace officials to gain their unique insights and share major findings in our latest report.
On Friday, July 15, CHIR’s very own Kevin Lucia spoke at a briefing on ACA marketplaces put on by the Alliance for Health Reform. Mr. Lucia joined representatives from the Commonwealth Fund, the American Academy of Actuaries, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association to discuss the outlook for federally facilitated and state-based exchanges as the fourth open enrollment period approaches in November.
As the federal insurance marketplace moves forward to standardize health plan benefit designs, what lessons can be learned from the state marketplaces that have had similar policies in place since 2014? A new Georgetown report examines the experiences of four state-based marketplaces and finds they have largely failed to meet their policy goals.
Sixty million people in the U.S. lack access to primary care services, partly due to a shortage of primary care physicians. Many states are responding to the crisis by expanding the scope of practice of non-MD health professionals, such as nurse practitioners. But insurers’ payment policies and resistance from the medical establishment often limit the effectiveness of those policy changes. CHIR’s legal intern Emma Chapman digs into the current debate.
The Obama Administration has announced several new strategies to boost enrollment among young adults in the health insurance marketplaces. These are helpful and important, but CHIR’s Sabrina Corlette observes they haven’t yet fixed an enrollment glitch that particularly affects adult children under age 26.
In the debate over Medicaid expansion, most of the attention has been on families in non-expansion states who are shut out of coverage. But what about those just above the poverty line who are eligible for marketplace tax credits? A new study compares their experience to those with similar incomes in Medicaid expansion states. Sean Miskell shares the findings.
California will soon be requesting a waiver from federal officials that would enable the state health insurance marketplace to enroll immigrants who are not lawfully present into coverage. Our colleague at Georgetown’s Center for Children and Families, Sonya Schwartz, takes a look at California’s new law and what it might mean for immigrants and their families.
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.
