Stakeholders Respond to the Proposed Short-Term, Limited-Duration Insurance Rule. Part II: Major Medical Insurers

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The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury received over 9,000 comments on their proposed rule, which aims to expand the availability of short-term, limited duration insurance. CHIR reviewed comments submitted by health care stakeholders to better understand industry reactions to the proposal. In part two of this four-part series, CHIR’s Emily Curran analyzes comments from nine major medical insurers and associations.

Stakeholders Respond to the Proposed Short-Term, Limited Duration Insurance Rule. Part I: Consumer Advocates

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Earlier this year, the Trump administration proposed rules to relax federal restrictions on short-term, limited duration insurance. After a 60-day comment period, the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor (DOL) and Treasury received over 9,000 comments from individuals, organizations, and government officials. To understand the potential impact of the proposals, CHIR reviewed comments from various stakeholder groups. For the first blog in our four-part series, CHIR’s Rachel Schwab examines comments submitted by consumer and patient organizations.

The FAA Reauthorization Bill – An Unexpected Vehicle for Relief from Surprise Medical Bills?

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More often than not, air ambulance services are called in to serve people in severe physical distress who do not have the capacity at the time to provide consent. Yet many are later hit with huge surprise out-of-network charges for the flight. State departments of insurance and state legislators across the nation have taken notice of this issue and sought to protect consumers, but a federal law that has nothing to do with health care prevents them from regulating air ambulance providers. CHIR’s Maanasa Kona explains two potential federal remedies.

The Urban Institute’s New Proposal to Get Us Closer to Universal Coverage

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In preparation for the day when a progressive vision for health reform may have more supporters in the White House and Congress, a number of leading members of Congress have developed new and innovative proposals. Everyone is trying to answer the same question: How do we get the most people covered in the most affordable way? The Urban Institute might have a good answer. CHIR’s Olivia Hoppe explains.

New Georgetown-Society of Actuaries’ Report: Estimating the Impact of Association Health Plans on the Individual Market

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The Trump administration is expected to shortly finalize new rules expanding the availability of association health plans (AHPs) that are exempt from key Affordable Care Act regulations and standards. In a new article for The Actuary, CHIR’s Sabrina Corlette joins co-authors Josh Hammerquist and Pete Nakahata to provide an overview of federal and state AHP regulation and estimate the impact of AHPs on the ACA-compliant individual market.

A Mother’s Day Gift Basket from Congress and the Trump Administration

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This Mother’s Day, both Congress and the Trump administration have put together a special gift basket of policies that continue to threaten access to health care for women, mothers, and families everywhere. From federal funding cuts to weaker benefit requirements, CHIR’s Rachel Schwab and Dania Palanker unwrap the presents and assess their potential impact on coverage.

Short-Term, Limited-Duration Insurance and Risks to California’s Insurance Market

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In a new California Health Care Foundation issue brief, CHIR’s Dania Palanker, Kevin Lucia, JoAnn Volk, and Rachel Schwab interviewed 21 stakeholders—including state officials, brokers and agents, insurers, and experts on California insurance markets to understand California’s short-term insurance market and how proposed federal regulatory changes could change the market. Their research finds that expanding the duration of short-term plans could increase their market and add to the destabilization of the individual health insurance market, including Covered California.

States Leaning In: Washington

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Since the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, states have embraced the law to varying degrees. While some states have refused to implement the ACA and actively oppose it, other states have leaned in, stepping up to preserve the consumer protections and market rules in the wake of federal actions to weaken the law. CHIR’s Rachel Schwab examines steps that Washington State has taken to ensure that their residents can continue to obtain affordable, high quality coverage, and how other states can do the same.

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.