…According to a blog post on the web site of Advance America, one of the few groups present at Governor Mike Pence’s very private signing of the RFRA, the bill was intended to allow discrimination against the LGBT community based on religious beliefs — thus the outrage from within and outside of Indiana that followed the signing. However, in a…
By Tricia Brooks, Georgetown University Center for Children and Families Earlier this week, Health Affairs ran a lengthy blog I wrote about how Healthcare.gov incorrectly counts Social Security income for tax dependents who are not required to file taxes. Policy experts and enrollment assisters had suspected the system glitch existed for some time before CMS confirmed the error in early…
A new report from Georgetown’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms (CHIR) provides a window on consumers’ experiences with health insurance coverage before and after implementation of the Affordable Care Act. CHIR researchers analyzed call center data and interviewed staff from 10 state consumer assistance programs (CAPs). Lead researchers JoAnn Volk and Sabrina Corlette discuss their findings in our latest web…
…the largest numbers of consumers. Stakeholders are welcome to comment on any aspect of the PRA, just as they submit comments when CMS proposes new rules. Comments on this notice are due by May 29, 2015, and can be submitted electronically at http://www.regulations.gov. Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on the Center for Children and Families’ Say Ahhh! Blog….
…maintain coverage. Mr. Holtz-Eakin also encouraged the Committee to consider proposed alternatives to the individual mandate, including a requirement that individuals maintain continuous coverage in order to avoid discrimination based on their health status. Although there were some “partisan fireworks,” a few Committee members identified possible areas of bipartisan cooperation, including proposed bills to reduce the reporting requirements for employers…
…in the way of systematic data collection about plans’ cost-sharing, provider networks, and benefit design. One source of information about consumers’ coverage experiences are the state-run Consumer Assistance Programs (CAPs). CAPs were created to assist consumers with health coverage questions and problems. CAP call centers receive calls from consumers on a wide range of issues, from those seeking coverage to…
…the ACA prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage to anyone because of a pre-exiting condition, consumers need not worry that they will be denied coverage. Further, the federal and state insurance exchanges created by the ACA allow those seeking coverage to shop for plans and qualify for subsidies that help make this coverage affordable for individuals without assistance from an…
…newly covered patients who did see a physician did not have more complex or chronic issues, as many postulated might happen before the ACA marketplace was implemented. The average number of diagnoses per visit for new patients only increased from 2.0 to 2.1 between 2013 and 2014, while the percentage of “high complexity” diagnoses in these patients actually decreased from…
…the start of the second open enrollment. This meeting comes after nearly a dozen new commissioners joined the association, following changes in state leadership brought about by last fall’s elections and retirements, and soon after the close of the second open enrollment. But other than a report from CCIIO officials touting total enrollment in the marketplaces, state regulators barely paused…
…from a provider inaccurately listed in the provider network. Information about Marketplace Quality and Coverage Starting in 2016, information about the quality of marketplace coverage and insurer practices will be available to the public, although the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has yet to provide specifics. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), HHS must develop quality data collection…
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.
