By Justin Giovannelli, Kevin Lucia, and Sabrina Corlette

The Affordable Care Act requires each of the new health insurance marketplaces to conduct consumer outreach and enrollment assistance through a “navigator” program. In earlier posts for The Commonwealth Fund blog, CHIR reported that many states that decided not to develop their own marketplaces—leaving that task to the federal government—have acted to restrict the work of navigators and other consumer assisters.

On January 23, a federal court in Missouri became the first to weigh in on the legality of state navigator restrictions. In a new post for The Commonwealth Fund, Justin Giovannelli, Kevin Lucia, and Sabrina Corlette discuss the ruling and explore its significance for Missouri and the other states that have adopted restrictions on navigators and consumer assisters. You can read the full post here.