Happy New Year! The holiday season may be over, but health policy researchers continue to bestow gifts onto our field. In December, we read about disruptions in health insurance coverage, the uninsured population, and gaps in provider network oversight. This roundup will highlight key findings of these articles, as well as their significance for our work.
Democrats in Congress have put forward several proposals to create a public health insurance option over the past decade. In a new post for the Commonwealth Fund, CHIR’s Christine Monahan and Kevin Lucia break down the main features of four bills from the 117th Congress that would establish new public option plans.
The tenth annual open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces is upon us. In a new issue brief for the Commonwealth Fund, CHIR experts Rachel Schwab, Rachel Swindle, and Justin Giovannelli detail innovative outreach strategies employed by state-based marketplaces during the open enrollment period for plan year 2022—tactics that can be applied during the forthcoming enrollment season for plan year 2023.
The affordability of diabetes care is a national issue. Even with insurance, diabetic patients can spend thousands of dollars on medication, supplies, and health services. These costs can present a particular burden on Black families. Black and Hispanic patients face disproportionally high hospitalizations and emergency department visits due to diabetes complications, emphasizing that affordable access to diabetes care is an issue of health equity. In a new post for the Commonwealth Fund, CHIR experts highlight different approaches states are taking to reduce health care disparities for diabetic patients.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently approved a new Section 1332 waiver authorizing Colorado’s public option-style law. The waiver approval marks the first time the federal government has taken action to approve state legislation introducing new, more heavily regulated plans into Affordable Care Act marketplaces to compete against traditional plans. In a new post for the Commonwealth Fund, CHIR experts dive into the details of Colorado’s law and waiver, and what they mean for future state action.
The No Surprises Act (NSA) went into effect this year, providing new protections against surprise medical bills for patients who receive unanticipated out-of-network care. CHIR has analyzed state NSA implementation and enforcement schemes and published an interactive map for the Commonwealth Fund, providing details about policies such as state enforcement strategies and patient-provider dispute resolution. In the newest iteration of the map, CHIR added updates on state payment determination mechanisms and protections against surprise ground ambulance bills.
The ACA’s marketplaces are working to advance health equity. State-based marketplaces are uniquely situated to improve health equity if they can close current gaps in race and ethnicity data. In a new post for the Commonwealth Fund, CHIR’s Dania Palanker, Jalisa Clark, and Christine Monahan examine the landscape of marketplace race and ethnicity data, and detail strategies for the upcoming open enrollment period to improve data collection.
As many as 16 million people are expected to lose Medicaid once the COVID-19 public health emergency ends. One-third of these could be eligible for ACA marketplace plans. In their latest To the Point blog for the Commonwealth Fund, Sabrina Corlette and Maanasa Kona discuss strategies that marketplaces can deploy to help reduce the potential coverage loss and help consumers make a smooth transition.
While federal health coverage reforms remain stalled in Congress, several states are pushing forward to establish modified versions of public health insurance options. In their latest post for the Commonwealth Fund’s To the Point blog, CHIR’s Christine Monahan, Justin Giovannelli, and Kevin Lucia provide an update on implementation of public option-style plans in Washington, Colorado, and Nevada.
Health Care Sharing Ministries (HCSM) continue to be marketed widely, often as an alternative to the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace plans, even though HCSMs don’t follow the same rules and typically don’t provide the same protections. There is a dearth of data on HCSM operations and finances, but a Massachusetts rule has offered a glimpse behind the curtain. In a new post for the Commonwealth Fund, JoAnn Volk, Justin Giovannelli, and Christina Goe dig into new data on HCSMs.
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.
