Tag: affordable care act

The ACA Hit List for the New Congress: A Prescription for Big Premium Hikes

The recent election brings us a new Congress and a new leadership dedicated to repeal of the Affordable Care Act. But instead of pushing for full repeal, the likely new Senate Majority leader has said he would focus on rolling back only the provisions he’s identified as unpopular, such as the individual mandate. Sabrina Corlette takes a look at why he can’t have his cake and eat it too.

New Online Resource Provides Answers to Common Health Insurance and Marketplace Questions

This week, CHIR is releasing an online version of the Navigator Resource Guide, with close to 300 searchable FAQs and easy-to-read background information on key health insurance and marketplace issues. Although designed with the needs of Navigators in mind, the Guide is a hands-on, practical resource for anyone who needs to communicate with consumers about the Affordable Care Act.

Raising the Curtain on Open Enrollment, Round Two

The second open enrollment period for the health insurance marketplaces, or OE2, is mere days away. Our colleague at Georgetown’s Center for Children and Families, Tricia Brooks, takes a look behind the curtain and gives us a glimpse of what we can expect.

The Affordable Care Act and the End of Job Lock: Some Early Positive Signs

A little over a year ago, researchers at CHIR and the Urban Institute predicted a 1.5 million increase in the number of self-employed entrepreneurs, as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It’s too early to know whether this prediction will bear out, but Sabrina Corlette highlights some early anecdotal signs that the law is in fact ending the phenomenon of “job lock.”

Georgetown Navigator Technical Assistance Project: Lessons Learned and Recommendations for Future Enrollment

Georgetown University experts from the Center on Health Insurance Reforms and the Center for Children and Families released this week a report documenting the experiences over the past year working with Navigators, Certified Application Counselors, and others working to enroll consumers in the health insurance marketplaces. JoAnn Volk, Sandy Ahn, Sabrina Corlette and Tricia Brooks share lessons learned and recommendations for future enrollments in a comprehensive report and two video clips.

Major Policy Changes Take a Backseat to IT During a Transitional Year for Health Insurance Marketplaces

As the health insurance marketplaces prepare for the second year of operation under the Affordable Care Act, IT issues are driving many states’ decisions on whether to operate a state-based marketplace. In their latest blog post for the Commonwealth Fund, CHIR experts Sarah Dash and Kevin Lucia share findings on state IT transitions and major policy actions going into 2015.

Advocates File Civil Rights Complaint with HHS on Coverage Termination Day

Last week, on the day that 115,000 people who bought coverage in the federal marketplace lost that coverage, the National Immigration Law Center filed complaints with HHS’s Office for Civil Rights alleging that the federally facilitated marketplace violated civil rights law and the Affordable Care Act’s anti-discrimination provisions. Our colleague at Georgetown’s Center for Children and Families, Sonya Schwartz, analyzes the concerns that underlie these filings.

Taking Stock and Taking Steps to Improve Consumer Assistance

A new report released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Kaiser Family Foundation chronicles the challenges, innovations and lessons learned about the needs of consumers for assistance in accessing and using health coverage options under the Affordable Care Act. Our partner in our Navigator technical assistance project, the Georgetown Center for Children and Families’ Tricia Brooks, has this overview.

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.