We at CHIR are excited to announce the arrival of two new colleagues who will be helping us navigate the world of health insurance and the new health insurance marketplaces. Please join us in welcoming David Cusano and Justin Giovannelli.
One of the key goals of the Affordable Care Act is to make health insurance coverage more affordable and consumer-friendly by managing competition among health insurers through the creation of health insurance exchanges. A new report from researchers at the Urban Institute and CHIR released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation explores state actions to encourage or require participation on exchanges, and early indications of the level of competition among health insurers. Kevin Lucia highlights some of the findings from the report.
Entrepreneurs with dreams of venturing out to start their own business must now navigate a “wild west” of inadequate and unaffordable insurance options. But the Affordable Care Act’s reforms will change that for entrepreneurs like Joe and Virginia Murphy. JoAnn Volk tells their story.
With the fast approach to open enrollment for the new health insurance marketplaces, there is growing interest in navigators and other assisters who will help people learn about their coverage options and get enrolled. JoAnn Volk explains how CHIR will be adding to the private insurance knowledge and support for navigators and assisters with a quick reference guide on private health insurance and the reforms of the ACA.
Whether or not small employers will begin self-funding in greater numbers as the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented continues to be a hot topic. In the midst of significant media attention, Christine Monahan looks at two states that have decided to take action.
Before the ACA, many people were hesitant to launch their own business because they feared losing their employer-sponsored coverage, a phenomenon called “job lock.” Sabrina Corlette discusses a new Georgetown-Urban Institute report projects that the ACA’s insurance reforms will lead as many as 1.5 million more Americans to become self-employed.
An interesting thing happened in Oregon last week after the Division of Insurance publicly posted insurers’ proposed premium rates for 2014. After seeing their competitors’ prices, two insurers asked the Division to allow them to reduce their proposed rates. Sabrina Corlette examines these recent developments and their implications for consumers.
With open enrollment for the new health insurance marketplaces just around the corner, attention is turning to the critical need for assistance to help consumers understand their new health insurance choices. The Kaiser Family and Robert Wood Johnson Foundations co-hosted a panel discussion on the topic, and Allison Johnson was there.
A handful of states are taking innovative approaches to the regulation of health insurance premium rates to help make coverage more affordable. Sabrina Corlette takes a look at these new strategies and the impact they could have on the cost of health care.
Our friend and CHIR colleague, Mila Kofman, has been named the Executive Director of the health insurance exchange for D.C. CHIRblogger Sabrina Corlette writes about this exciting new chapter.
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.
