July’s latest health policy research is provided by CHIR’s Nia Gooding in our monthly roundup. She reviews studies on health equity and health plan benefit design, 2022 insurer rate filings, and employer market power in hospital price negotiations.
With another month comes a new crop of health policy research. This May, Nia Gooding reviewed studies on the demographic makeup of the uninsured population eligible for marketplace coverage, the association between hospital-physician integration and unnecessary patient referrals, and rationales for replacing silver loading for Marketplace coverage.
The Biden administration has pledged to use its executive authority to build on and improve the Affordable Care Act. In a new issue brief for the Commonwealth Fund, Katie Keith analyzes recommendations to the Biden–Harris presidential transition team made by patient and consumer advocates, health insurers, hospitals, physicians, state marketplace officials, and state insurance commissioners to identify high-priority policy changes.
The “family glitch,” a loophole in federal rules, bars millions of people from subsidized coverage because they have access to a family member’s employer-sponsored coverage The glitch is easy to fix, through either regulation or legislation. CHIR exposes that a paper released this week claiming a fix is illegal and harmful is based on a faulty presumption.
The family glitch bars millions of people from accessing reduced premiums and cost-sharing through the marketplaces because a family member has an offer of employer coverage. In their latest post for the Commonwealth Fund To the Point blog, Christina Goe and CHIR’s Dania Palanker delve into the costs of the family glitch to low- and middle-income families.
April is Minority Health Month, a good time to consider ways to reduce the wide disparities in health insurance access and coverage that particularly affect people of color. For the National Latino Week of Action, CHIR looks at changes in the uninsured rate among the Latino/Hispanic community, and identifies opportunities to build on coverage gains thanks to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
The CHIR team is excited to transition into spring, as with the warmer weather has come some great new health policy research! This month, Nia Gooding reviewed studies on best practices for implementing the No Surprises Act, the American Rescue Plan Act’s effect on insurance premiums, demographic variations in the U.S. uninsured population, and models for implementing a public option.
President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act on March 11, 2021. The bill includes several provisions to expand people’s access to affordable, comprehensive coverage options. CHIR provides answers to frequently asked questions about the new law’s enhanced premium tax credits.
President Biden has recently signed an executive order to re-open the federal marketplace for a COVID-19 Special Enrollment Period. The CHIR team will be highlighting a selection of relevant frequently asked questions (FAQs) from our recently updated Navigator Resource Guide for uninsured consumers who are seeking health coverage during this time. In this installation, we answer FAQs about financial assistance that may be available to some individuals and families.
As the snow continues to fall, the CHIR team has cozied up indoors with new health policy research. This month, Nia Gooding reviewed studies on rates of enrollment in Marketplace coverage for 2021, Navigator experiences enrolling consumers during the 2021 Open Enrollment period, and outcomes from balance billing arbitration in New Jersey.
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.
