Dania Palanker, Maanasa Kona, Emily Curran Short-term, limited duration health insurance — known as short-term plans — was originally intended to fill short gaps when people transitioned between coverage, but is now being sold as a replacement for year-round comprehensive coverage. Short-term plans are not subject to the consumer protections of the Affordable Care Act. As a result, they have…
…bills would codify only some of the ACA’s consumer protections into state law, leaving consumers vulnerable to a return to insurance company discriminatory practices. One such example is SB 173, currently pending in the Louisiana legislature. Louisiana’s SB 173: Codifies Some ACA Provisions, But Would Leave Louisianans Vulnerable to Insurance Company Denials, Higher Premiums Senate Bill 173 doesn’t have an…
…ACA Marketplace. Health Affairs; April 1, 2019. Premiums are often discussed in relation to how many insurers participate on the ACA marketplace each year. While competition among insurers is important to keep prices competitive, providers also play a role in premium levels. In this study, researchers analyzed the effects of competition among hospitals on premium prices across states between 2014-2017….
…case assessing New York’s experience with its Surprise Billing law, 5 years in. Key findings include: A front-loaded legislative process that required key stakeholders (payers, providers, and consumer advocates) to make critical compromises early helped ease implementation. Reports about surprise out-of-network bills went from being a top consumer complaint in New York to “barely an issue.” Both provider and insurer…
Last month, North Dakota enacted legislation to establish a state reinsurance program, and a number of states are considering similar bills. These reinsurance bills are intended to reduce premiums, boost enrollment in the individual market, and encourage insurance companies to continue to participate on the ACA marketplaces. But it’s critical that state-based consumer advocates engage with state officials to help…
…find that certain policy and operational decisions, such as opting for a state-run technology platform and extending the enrollment period, were associated with better results. These findings, along with the success stories of a number of innovative state marketing campaigns, illustrate how state-level efforts to bolster enrollment paid off. You can compare marketplace data and read the full piece here….
…regulators have few options to protect their markets. It’s unclear whether many employers will see the new option as a credible alternative to traditional group health coverage. Yet in an economic downturn, fixed-dollar accounts could become attractive to employers looking to keep labor costs predictable. In a new post for the Commonwealth Fund’s To the Point, we look at the…
…consumer advocates. This is not intended to be a comprehensive report of all comments on every element in the Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters proposed rule, nor does it capture every component of the reviewed comments. Additionally, a portion of submitted comments were not available for our review at the time of publication. For more stakeholder comments, visit http://regulations.gov….
On April 2, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule modifying the federal funding methodology for the Basic Health Program (BHP) for 2019 and 2020. Under the proposal, technical changes – such as adding a metal-tier selection factor – to the formula could cause participating states to lose $300 million in federal funding, leaving them…
…insurance departments. This is not intended to be a comprehensive report of all comments on every element in the Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters proposed rule, nor does it capture every component of the reviewed comments. Additionally, a portion of submitted comments were not available for our review at the time of publication. For more stakeholder comments, visit http://regulations.gov….
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.
