By Sabrina Corlette and Kevin Lucia

In most states, insurers will need to submit their health plans and proposed premium rates to insurance regulators by June 21, 2017 if they wish to sell on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces in 2018. However, they’ll be making these submissions in the midst of continued uncertainty over critical ACA policies. These include questions about whether:

• The Trump administration will continue to fund the ACA’s subsidies to defray health plan cost-sharing for low-income enrollees (cost-sharing reductions or “CSRs”)
• The Trump administration will enforce the requirement that taxpayers maintain health coverage or pay a penalty (the individual mandate penalty)
• The Trump administration will conduct proactive outreach to uninsured consumers during the 2018 open enrollment season and provide adequate assistance to consumers seeking to enroll in the health insurance marketplaces
• The U.S. Congress will enact legislation to repeal and replace all or parts of the ACA.

In their latest blog post for The Commonwealth Fund, Sabrina Corlette and Kevin Lucia examine what this policy uncertainty means for the tight schedule required to submit, review and approve plans and premium rates for the 2018 marketplace, and the ultimate impact on consumers. Read the full post here.