Tag: consumers

Paying for Value, By the Numbers

Everyone likes to talk about paying for value, but how is it being implemented in the real world? Sarah Dash highlights two new studies that shed some light on key benchmarks to watch as health care coverage continues to evolve.

Beware the Latest Loophole

As significant an impact as the Affordable Care Act will have on the U.S. health insurance market, there remain a number of ways health insurance carriers and other stakeholders may avoid or delay the law’s reforms. Christine Monahan discusses a new loophole gaining attention at the state level that would allow health insurance carriers to delay compliance with the ACA’s 2014 market reforms for a year.

Consumer Representatives Issue Recommendations for Sweeping Insurance Reforms Under the Affordable Care Act

On August 11, 2012, the consumer representatives to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) debuted a a set of recommendations to ensure that state and federal lawmakers implement the Affordable Care Act's insurance reforms in a way that meet consumers’ needs. Learn more about the consumer representatives' recommendations and read the press release here!

Health Reform on the Campaign Trail

With much attention focused on this week’s Republican National Convention, Katie Keith dives in to presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s platform on healthcare—and what it could mean for consumers and the future of the Affordable Care Act.

Action on Multi-State Plans, But Still No Specifics

Last week the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released its draft application for Multi-State Plans. Sabrina Corlette discusses what to expect going forward and takes a look at the questions that the draft tried to answer – and those it didn't.

State of the States: Choosing an Essential Health Benefits Benchmark Plan

To help make coverage more comprehensive, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires insurers to cover a minimum set of health insurance benefits, known as “essential health benefits.” JoAnn Volk and Max Levin provide an update on how many states have selected their essential health benefits benchmark plan and help translate what it means for consumers.

Summary of Benefits and Coverage: Helping Consumers Shop for Health Insurance

As of September 23, consumers will begin to receive a new summary of benefits and coverage form that describes what's covered by their insurance policy. Sabrina Corlette welcomes these new forms and discusses how they were developed as well as their potential to help tame the “wild west” of shopping for health insurance coverage.

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.