Millions of people are enrolling in health insurance coverage, thanks to the ACA. But one congressional representative recently decided to go without any health plan at all. CHIR blogger Sabrina Corlette examines the reasoning behind his decision – and the financial risks he may be facing.
High risk pool enrollees face particular challenges transitioning to new coverage when their coverage ends. But announcements in the past week provide relief to both PCIP enrollees as well as those in state-based high risk pools. JoAnn Volk takes a look at what those announcements mean for consumers.
Shopping for and selecting a new health coverage plan can be challenging for many consumers. One government program – Medicare Part D – recently announced a new policy to make the process of selecting a prescription drug plan easier for beneficiaries. Sabrina Corlette compares the Medicare approach to that taken by the health insurance marketplaces – and shares new CHIR research on state actions to simplify consumers’ shopping experiences.
The Affordable Care Act is designed to expand access to affordable and adequate health insurance, improve the quality and efficiency of care, and constrain rising health costs. While the closely watched insurance marketplaces are key to these efforts, among the most promising provisions is the law’s new transparency framework. In this latest in a series of blogs for the Commonwealth Fund, Justin Giovannelli, Kevin Lucia and Sarah Dash take a look at one important but overlooked tool.
The start of 2014 marks the transition to new health plans that must meet ACA standards for adequacy and affordability. But, as with any transition, there can be disruptions, particularly for people who are in the middle of treatment or need drugs that may not be on a new plan’s formulary. HHS has recently released fact sheets and an interim final rule to help consumers and health plans make a smooth transition. JoAnn Volk has this overview – and answers some common consumer questions.
Implementation of the President’s proposed fix for health insurance policy cancellations rests with state officials and insurance companies. In this blog update for The Commonwealth Fund, Kevin Lucia, Katie Keith, and Sabrina Corlette provide the latest on states’ decisions, as well as an accompanying U.S. map.
The Kaiser Family Foundation—in collaboration with CHIR experts Kevin Lucia and Katie Keith—has released a new report exploring factors leading to medical debt among people with insurance. Kevin Lucia has this preview.
2014 brings sweeping new health insurance protections for consumers, but for those reforms to be realized state insurance regulators need to make sure health plans comply with the law. A recent report released by the NAIC consumer representatives details best practices and provides recommendations to states to improve enforcement and better protect consumers. Sabrina Corlette has this overview.
On the eve of the December 23 deadline to sign up for health insurance coverage, the Administration announced that people whose previous health plans had been cancelled will now be allowed to enroll in alternative, bare-bones coverage. Consumers and those charged with helping them enroll – navigators, brokers, application assisters and others – are likely to have questions about the change. Sabrina Corlette provides answers here.
Choosing the health plan that best meets your needs is no easy task, with much at stake in terms of both financial protection and access to care. In a new issue brief for The Commonwealth Fund, Christine Monahan, Sarah Dash, Kevin Lucia, and Sabrina Corlette examine the actions taken by state-based health insurance marketplaces to simplify health plan choices.
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.
