Happy New Year! The holiday season may be over, but health policy researchers continue to bestow gifts onto our field. In December, we read about disruptions in health insurance coverage, the uninsured population, and gaps in provider network oversight. This roundup will highlight key findings of these articles, as well as their significance for our work.
The latest U.S. Census data show the uninsured rate for nonelderly adults is rising, including among middle- and higher-income people who do not qualify for Affordable Care Act premium subsidies. Such an increase is partly attributable to policies implemented by the Trump administration to undermine the ACA. CHIR’s Olivia Hoppe explains that when it comes to individual market enrollment, however, national numbers mask significant differences in state-to-state performance.
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means held an oversight hearing during which they questioned CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner on the technical issues Healthcare.gov has faced since its launch. But the hearing went well beyond Website problems. Elissa Dines tuned in and offers this report.
Last week CMS released a set of instructions to insurance companies seeking to sell plans in the federally facilitated exchanges. Sabrina Corlette took a look at some of the details and provides some of the plan management highlights.
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.
