A recent complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights against four Florida insurers targets them for violating the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition against discrimination. CHIR expert Sally McCarty evaluates the complaint and its implications for consumers and state insurance regulators.
A new survey commissioned by Enroll America helps us understand why some of the uninsured enrolled in new coverage options under the Affordable Care Act, but others did not. And it includes recommendations to prepare for the next round of open enrollment. Our colleague at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, Cathy Hope, provides this overview.
In response to actions by some health plans to impose benefit-specific waiting periods for coverage of serious health conditions, such as organ transplants, the Obama Administration recently issued guidance to prohibit the practice and protect consumers from discriminatory benefit design. Georgetown Law Center’s Sandy Ahn reviews the new guidance and the impact for consumers in this guest post.
The Obama Administration has finalized rules to protect consumers by regulating the marketing and sale of fixed indemnity policies. Sabrina Corlette provides an overview of the final rule and highlights some outstanding questions.
The Obama Administration has released final rules curtailing state laws that overly restrict the ability of navigators and certified application counselors to effectively enroll people into new coverage options through the health insurance marketplaces. Our Georgetown University Center for Children and Families colleague, Tricia Brooks, provides the overview of the rule and what it means for consumer assisters.
Recent legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives attempts to fix a problem in the Affordable Care Act for a relatively small group of people with health coverage who live overseas. But in the process it creates loopholes that could undermine consumer protections for a much larger group of people. Our colleague at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, Sonya Schwartz, provides this assessment.
We’re starting to learn more about health insurance premium rates for 2015. Whether they go up, down, or stay the same, many will view them as a referendum on the ACA. Sabrina Corlette shares two new resources that help improve our understanding of the factors that drive premium rates.
Now that open enrollment is over, consumers are starting to raise questions about their coverage. One such question from Georgia illustrates one of the challenges consumers may face – a network that changes mid-year. JoAnn Volk takes a look at some options.
While we’re struggling with Affordable Care Act (ACA) issues, there’s value in taking the time to look back and appreciate the impact of the ACA and other healthcare reforms implemented over the past few decades. To that end, CHIR faculty member and former Indiana Insurance Commissioner Sally McCarty is posting a series called “Back in the Day – Lessons from Pre-reform Days.” This installment looks at policies in a “death spiral.”
Just when you thought you had figured out all the possible special enrollment periods for coverage in the new health insurance marketplaces, the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) has offered up a few more. Sabrina Corlette gives us an overview.
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.
