More than two months after the deadline for health insurance issuers to submit applications for the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) multi-state plan program, news is finally starting to trickle out about participating insurers and the first batch of states that are expecting to see multi-state plans on their exchanges. Christine Monahan shares the latest developments.
Employers are increasingly turning to workplace wellness programs with an eye toward improving employee health and lowering their health care costs. In this post, JoAnn Volk takes a look at the final federal rule governing workplace wellness programs and what it means for consumers.
Before the ACA, many people were hesitant to launch their own business because they feared losing their employer-sponsored coverage, a phenomenon called “job lock.” Sabrina Corlette discusses a new Georgetown-Urban Institute report projects that the ACA’s insurance reforms will lead as many as 1.5 million more Americans to become self-employed.
Rhode Island’s insurance regulators are using their rate review authority in innovative ways to make premiums more affordable for consumers – and tackle some of the underlying drivers of health care cost increases. Sabrina Corlette takes a look at Rhode Island’s most recent action to push the rate review envelope.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) continues its work to support states’ implementation of the ACA. One work group is taking on the daunting task of updating dozens of model state health insurance laws to reflect the ACA’s new consumer protections. Sabrina Corlette joined their most recent call and provides an overview of their progress.
Last week marked the thirty-seventh time that the House has voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Sally McCarty reflects on how that news may have been received by the millions of people who are already benefiting from the law’s early market reforms and, in particular, those formerly plagued by lifetime limits on their health insurance.
When Stacy Cook learned she had breast cancer, her health coverage fell short. In this latest story in our series, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we take a look at how the Affordable Care Act will help ensure people have affordable, adequate coverage that’s there when they need it.
An interesting thing happened in Oregon last week after the Division of Insurance publicly posted insurers’ proposed premium rates for 2014. After seeing their competitors’ prices, two insurers asked the Division to allow them to reduce their proposed rates. Sabrina Corlette examines these recent developments and their implications for consumers.
On May 7th, the National Institute for Healthcare Management Foundation hosted a webinar on state marketplace development and the major milestones left to meet before open enrollment begins on October 1st. Allison Johnson listened in and has highlights from the panel of federal officials, industry representatives, and consultants.
This week CCIIO released new guidance and model language for insurers to use in communicating with consumers about their new health insurance coverage options. Sabrina Corlette takes a look at the guidance – and why it’s an important consumer protection.
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.
