Hello and welcome to the Center on Health Insurance Reforms’ new blog. We’re excited to launch a new forum to share our insights on health insurance coverage and insurance markets, with a particular focus on how people are affected by insurance reform. Our bloggers share a common mission: to improve access to affordable and adequate health insurance for individuals, families,…
…the factors underlying rate increases. Markets with a dominant insurer or a dominant hospital may be less likely to experience increased insurance plan competition under the ACA. Those markets comprised of a few strong insurers and no dominant hospital will likely see increased competition under the ACA, which could lead insurers to offer lower-premium plans. For more information on this…
Today, the Commonwealth Fund released a new issue brief on the availability of child-only policies. The issue brief is part of an ongoing series by CHIR on implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. What does the ACA do? The ACA prohibits insurers from denying or limiting coverage because of preexisting…
…build their systems and test them. As a result, now that the election is over and health reform is moving forward, we at CHIR are expecting a flurry of new regulations and guidance from the federal agencies over the coming days and weeks. Figuring out what rules are coming out when is an inexact science at best, but below are…
…policies. If they don’t hit the target, insurers must pay a rebate to consumers and small business owners. Insurers cougar dating sites were required to meet these standards for the first time nationwide in 2011. The authors of the Commonwealth Fund study, Michael McCue of Virginia Commonwealth University and Mark Hall of Wake Forest University, found that individual market consumers…
…not yet get their wish. A second term for President Obama means that the Administration and states can continue with the complex task of implementing the Affordable Care Act – but the ultimate success of health care reform depends on critical implementation decisions yet to be made. It’s always worth remembering how we got here in the first place: health…
We’re noting meet cougars a staff shake-up at the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO). Those of you who follow ACA implementation closely know that the former head of CCIIO, Steve Larsen, left last spring to join Optum, a consulting division of UnitedHealth Group. Mike Hash, from HHS’ Office of Health Reform, served as acting head of the…
…and “meets the requirement to reflect benefits in a typical employer plan.” The three organizations also discussed how they came to their recommendation, describing the objectives that policymakers considered and the public meetings and comment periods that were held. In supplementing the plan, Colorado recommended the Child Health Plan Plus for pediatric dental benefits and noted that the benefit-specific recommendations…
…our findings raise important questions about whether individuals with pre-existing conditions would be adequately protected under such laws and suggests that these proposals could make it more difficult to access coverage. For example, if insurers are allowed to bypass state protections and choose which state laws they want to comply with, consumers in states with stronger protections could be worse…
…are unable to address the true barriers to insurance market competition (such as building a provider network) and don’t account for localized health insurance rules. At the same time, if enacted more broadly, these laws could undermine consumer protections by reducing the ability of state regulators to oversee insurers and respond meaningfully to consumer complaints. To learn more about these…
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