Seventeen states have enacted rules for health insurance marketplace navigators that could hinder their ability to provide consumer assistance. In a blog series published by the Commonwealth Fund, CHIR experts Justin Giovannelli, Kevin Lucia and Sarah Dash take a closer look at these laws and their impact on outreach and enrollment.
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.
The U.S. House of Representatives began the first in what is likely to be a series of oversight hearings into the botched launch of the ACA’s health insurance marketplaces, with an aggressive drilling of four of the top IT contractors. Elissa Dines heard it all, and offers this overview.
Some are questioning the adequacy of health insurance on the new marketplaces. But such concerns neglect to mention that these new plans will be a far better deal compared to what, up to now, has been available. Sabrina Corlette takes a look at the comprehensiveness of health insurance coverage, pre- and post-ACA.
Indiana, a state with a federally facilitated health insurance marketplace, is also home to health care giants Wellpoint, Inc. and Eli Lilly and Company. In a column she wrote for the October 7 edition of the Indianapolis Business Journal, CHIR faculty member Sally McCarty, a former Indiana insurance commissioner, makes a case for allowing Indiana residents to enroll in the federal marketplace without obstruction.
Last week was a busy week for those focused on robust consumer assistance in the new health insurance marketplaces. The Department of Health and Human Services announced new navigator grants and released training materials for navigators and other consumer assisters. Sabrina Corlette takes a look at the grantees and dives into the new training modules.
The Affordable Care Act promises consumers a more comprehensive set of health insurance benefits, but whether consumers are able to access those benefits depends in part on whether states adhere to or build upon the law’s network adequacy standards. CHIR researchers recently released a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded report evaluating current federal and state efforts to regulate plan networks. Max Farris provides an overview.
Although the federal government will play a primary role in administering the navigator program in the 33 states with a federally facilitated exchange, many state legislatures have enacted or considered legislation that subjects navigators to state requirements. In a post that originally appeared on The Commonwealth Fund Blog, Katie Keith, Kevin Lucia, and Christine Monahan describe the role of navigators and well as the potentially detrimental impact of this recent state legislative activity on effective consumer outreach.
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.
