Last week the federal agency responsible for implementing the Affordable Care Act awarded $67 million in grants to state and local organizations to serve as marketplace navigators. These groups will conduct outreach to consumers and help them enroll in affordable coverage options. Our colleague Tricia Brooks blogs about why navigators are so important and previews some critical future announcements.
A recent study has found that as many as 2.2 million people are missing out on Affordable Care Act cost-sharing subsidies that could make their insurance coverage more affordable. Our Center for Children and Families colleague, Tricia Brooks, discusses some critical tools the state and federal marketplaces could put in place to make sure consumers are getting the financial help they’re eligible for.
Last week the Obama Administration took a small step forward to implement Affordable Care Act transparency rules. This week, CHIR researchers Sabrina Corlette, JoAnn Volk and Sandy Ahn released a new report outlining a new and powerful data collection and transparency framework that can help state and federal policymakers better understand how insurers are complying with new market rules and consumer protections.
The Obama Administration has taken a step forward to implement long-delayed transparency provisions of the ACA, which require insurers and employer-based health plans to report a range of data to help policymakers and consumers better understand how insurance is working for people. CHIR expert Sabrina Corlette finds the latest action to be just a baby step, as well as a missed opportunity.
The latest dust up in Washington is a fight between the Obama Administration and employer groups over the ACA provision that limits consumers’ annual out-of-pocket costs. JoAnn Volk looks at what the issue means for employers and consumers.
We’re just 12 weeks away from the start of the third open enrollment period (OE3) for the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces. The results from a recently released Kaiser Family Foundation survey of health insurance Navigators and brokers offer some helpful insights on ways to improve consumer outreach and enrollment going forward. CHIR’s Hannah Ellison and Sabrina Corlette share some highlights.
A new report from CHIR researchers Sandy Ahn, Jack Hoadley and Sabrina Corlette revisits six state-based marketplaces that took varying approaches to renewing enrollees into 2015 coverage. The report examines how their different approaches affected enrollment and the consumer experience, and shares lessons learned for the next round of marketplace renewals.
There’s been some hand-wringing over large proposed premium increases for health plans in 2016. But it’s important to remember that rate requests vary – a lot – by insurer and location. And that these rates are only proposed. They’re subject to regulatory scrutiny, and many proposed hikes may be reduced. In their latest blog post for the Commonwealth Fund, CHIR experts Sean Miskell and Dave Cusano discuss the drivers of 2016 premiums and states’ role in keeping coverage affordable.
A provider association has recently heard from member physician offices about patients enrolled in “church plans” in which preventive services, such as child well visits and immunizations, aren’t covered. What are these church plans and why don’t they have to comply with the Affordable Care Act insurance reforms? CHIR’s Sabrina Corlette has some answers.
In the wake of formal complaints that insurers are marketing health plans with discriminatory benefit designs, state insurance regulators are under increasing pressure to subject these plans to greater scrutiny. But with limited resources and manpower, states are feeling squeezed. As part of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation project to support states with Affordable Care Act implementation, CHIR researchers Kayla Connor and Sally McCarty created a directory of consumer organizations willing to partner with states to conduct plan analyses.
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.
