It’s decision time for states considering whether to transition to a state-based, partnership, federally facilitated or other form of health insurance marketplace. In their latest blog post for the Commonwealth Fund, Sarah Dash and Amy Thomas dig into which states are doing what, and why.
Remember the Medicaid loopers? These are people who applied for coverage through the health insurance Marketplace, to be told they were initially assessed as Medicaid eligible, and to apply for coverage with their state’s Medicaid agency. If the Medicaid agency rejected their application, they were then bounced back to the Marketplace. In this blog post, Sabrina Corlette takes a look at one family’s efforts to get through a maze of bureaucracy to obtain coverage for their children.
The U.S. Census Bureau is implementing changes to the questions they ask on their Current Population Survey (CPS). Many observers have expressed concern that the changes will inhibit accurate assessments of the Affordable Care Act’s impact on coverage levels. But Jon Peacock of the Wisconsin Budget Project, in a guest blog for Georgetown’s Center for Children and Families, argues that researchers will still have plenty of good Census data with which to understand the effects of the ACA.
How does COBRA fit into coverage options now that people who lose employer-sponsored coverage have other insurance options under the ACA? In this blog post, JoAnn Volk takes up that question and looks at what an offer of COBRA means for special enrollment periods under the ACA.
Last week the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics published a report documenting a decline in the number of people with problems paying their medical bills. CHIR’s Sabrina Corlette takes a look at the numbers behind the report and the impact, if any, of the Affordable Care Act.
Secretary Sebelius will soon be stepping down as head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She led the agency through an extraordinary time of health system transformation. One person who knew she would be up to the job – and who knows she’s a tough act to follow – is her former insurance commissioner colleague, Sally McCarty. In this post, Sally looks back at her two decades of working with Sebelius and celebrates the tenure of a remarkable Secretary.
With the close of open enrollment in the new health insurance Marketplaces, it is a good time not only to applaud the work of the navigators and consumer assisters who helped people gain access to new coverage, but also to reflect on lessons learned and assess what can be done to improve consumer assistance for 2015. Our colleague at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, Tricia Brooks, does just that in her latest post.
A set of new tools for state insurance regulators, as well as updated versions of some older resources, have recently been posted on the Robert Wood Johnson State Health Reform Assistance Network (State Network) web site. CHIR faculty Sally McCarty, David Cusano, and Max Farris, who serve as technical assistance professionals (TAPS) in the State Network Program, developed the new resources. Sally McCarty describes them here and provides information about an upcoming Webinar to introduce them and demonstrate their use.
The Obama Administration is allowing extra time to enroll in the health insurance Marketplaces for people who, through no fault of their own, have been unable to complete the process. But the options are different, depending on people’s different circumstances. Our Georgetown University Center for Children and Families colleague Tricia Brooks explains.
Both Minnesota and New York are on the path to setting up a Basic Health Program (BHP) that will provide more affordable coverage for low-income families than they may find on the marketplace. Georgetown University Center for Children and Families’ Sonya Schwartz has an update on where the BHP program stands and what it means for 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.
