Tag: state-based marketplace

Delays Extending The American Rescue Plan’s Health Insurance Subsidies Will Raise Premiums And Reduce Coverage

Congress has spent months debating an extension of enhanced premium tax credits enacted under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. However, as CHIR’s Sabrina Corlette and the Urban Institute’s Jason Levitis discuss in this recent Health Affairs Forefront article, the clock is ticking. Continued delays would likely cause coverage losses and additional costs that wouldn’t be restored even if a subsidy extension is later enacted.

June Research Roundup: What We’re Reading

It’s finally summer, and during the latest heat wave, the CHIR team cooled off with new health policy research. In June, we reviewed studies on improving race and ethnicity data collection in health insurance marketplaces, the value of health savings accounts, and variation in medical debt accumulation across the U.S.

Improving Race and Ethnicity Data Collection: A First Step to Furthering Health Equity Through the State-Based Marketplaces

The ACA’s marketplaces are working to advance health equity. State-based marketplaces are uniquely situated to improve health equity if they can close current gaps in race and ethnicity data. In a new post for the Commonwealth Fund, CHIR’s Dania Palanker, Jalisa Clark, and Christine Monahan examine the landscape of marketplace race and ethnicity data, and detail strategies for the upcoming open enrollment period to improve data collection.

Mitigating Coverage Loss When the Public Health Emergency Ends: The Role of the Affordable Care Act Marketplaces

As many as 16 million people are expected to lose Medicaid once the COVID-19 public health emergency ends. One-third of these could be eligible for ACA marketplace plans. In their latest To the Point blog for the Commonwealth Fund, Sabrina Corlette and Maanasa Kona discuss strategies that marketplaces can deploy to help reduce the potential coverage loss and help consumers make a smooth transition.

Three New State-Based Marketplaces are Up and Running

We’re a week into Affordable Care Act marketplace open enrollment, and it looks like the three newest state-based marketplaces, Kentucky, Maine, and New Mexico, are off to a solid start. The transition away from the federal marketplace, HealthCare.gov, has taken time, effort, and an up-front investment in the new state-run platforms and other SBM infrastructure. CHIR’s Rachel Swindle takes a look at some of the challenges and opportunities for states running their own marketplaces.

The Final 2022 Notice of Benefit & Payment Parameters: Implications for States

In its first major rulemaking related to the Affordable Care Act, the Biden administration published the final 2022 “Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters” on April 30. Sabrina Corlette reviews the rule and its implications for state insurance regulation and the health insurance marketplaces in her latest “Expert Perspective” for the State Health & Value Strategies project.

State-Based Marketplaces Gear Up to Implement the American Rescue Plan

The state-based health insurance marketplaces are taking varied approaches to implementing the enhanced premium tax credits provided under the American Rescue Plan. CHIR’s Sabrina Corlette and Rachel Schwab review these states’ decisions and their impact on when and how consumers will access health plans with more affordable premiums.

Rookie Report: How did New Jersey and Pennsylvania State Marketplaces Fare in Their Inaugural Enrollment Period?

After seven enrollment cycles on HealthCare.gov, New Jersey and Pennsylvania both launched new state marketplace websites in time for the latest Open Enrollment Period. Both states saw increases in marketplace enrollment over previous years. To understand how this transition went for Pennsylvania and New Jersey residents, and to extract potential lessons for the states that are transitioning to running their own marketplaces, we sought insight from people on the ground: consumer assisters.

Federal Policy Priorities for Preserving and Improving Access to Coverage: Perspectives from State-Based Marketplaces

The Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces provide a critical source of coverage and financial assistance. Federal actions under the Trump administration undermined the marketplaces, but the new administration and Congress have opportunities to implement and advocate for policies that strengthen state-based marketplaces (SBMs). In a new issue brief for the Commonwealth Fund, CHIR experts assessed how federal policy decisions have impacted SBMs and the consumers they serve by interviewing directors and officials from 17 marketplaces.

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.