Research & Reports
-
States Still Floating Unwise Proposals to Opt Out of Medicaid
It seems odd that such an unwise idea as opting out of Medicaid would even make it to the level of serious public debate. As long as states keep floating such irresponsible proposals, we’ll keep blogging about why it’s such a bad idea. This week, we bring you a blog post from Edwin Parks of the Center on…
-
HHS Announces Medical Loss Ratio Rule
By Joe Touschner Even with all the ink, airtime, and pixels used in debating and discussing the Affordable Care Act over the last year, many of its provisions–including some very important ones–remain obscure. HHS today put forward regulations implementing one of those seemingly obscure, but actually quite vital parts of the law. The new regulations…
-
HHS Issues First Guidance on Exchanges
By JoAnn Volk, Georgetown Health Policy Institute Yesterday, HHS issued the first guidance on exchanges, the “first in a series of documents” they plan to publish over the next three years to give states the information they need to establish exchanges. Though the department plans to issue regulations for public comment in 2011, the goal of this…
-
New Congressman Wants His Health Insurance Now – Opposes ACA
By Vincent DeMarco, President, Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative Education Fund, Inc. Maryland’s Representative-Elect Andy Harris, who opposed health care for people as a state senator and a candidate for Congress, is now demanding government-subsidized health care for himself a month early. Maybe he will learn what it would be like for the millions of Americans,…
-
Medicaid Managed Care – States Should Look Before They Leap (Again!)
By Joel Ferber, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri and nationally recognized expert on Medicaid A recent article in USA Today focused on Medicaid managed care and its implications for health reform. Health insurance companies are clamoring for the substantial new business that will become available when Medicaid coverage is expanded to an estimated 16 million…
-
NAIC Makes Progress on Model State Laws – Comments are Welcome
It’s been a busy few weeks for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), as they move forward on implementing key provisions of the ACA. A summary of the latest activity – and ways you can get involved – are summarized below. 1. Exchanges. The NAIC’s subgroup on exchanges just reported out a model state law…
-
Show Me the Mandate
Health reform was not a dominant factor in influencing voters’ decisions during the mid-term elections according to the recently released Kaiser health tracking poll. That may be surprising given what we’ve been hearing about the election being a mandate for repeal of the new law but it is consistent with other polls. The Kaiser poll…
-
HHS Announces Early Innovator Grants for Development of State Exchange Information Systems
Successful implementation of the Affordable Care Act relies heavily on technology to provide consumer-friendly information, to ensure that eligibility is streamlined, and to coordinate enrollment between Medicaid, CHIP and the Exchange. To support the development of these critical systems, HHS has announced “Early Innovator” grants to encourage and reward states for leading the way and…
-
The District is #1!!!
By Julie Hudman, PhD, Director, Department of Health Care Finance, District of Columbia And no, it isn’t #1 in murders, infant mortality, or a high concentration of policy wonks. It is #1 in enrolling and keeping children enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP. A Health Affairs article by Dr, Jenny Kenney and others found that the…
-
CBPP Paper Refutes State Estimates of the Cost of Reform
By Martha Heberlein In a report issued last week, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities examines recent state estimates on the cost of the Medicaid expansion on Mississippi, Nebraska, and Indiana (states where officials aren’t necessarily supportive of the whole idea). According to Milliman, an actuarial/consulting firm that produced all three estimates, state spending…
-
Insurance Commissioners Respond to Consumer Concerns
By now many of you have probably heard about the big news coming out of the NAIC meeting this week in Orlando. After seven months of intense debate and negotiation, the NAIC voted in favor of a regulation defining the ACA’s required “medical loss ratio” (MLR). They rejected several amendments that were heavily pushed by…
-
Pregnancy Viewed as Pre-Existing Condition by Many Individual Insurance Plans
By Amanda Jezek, March of Dimes If you are pregnant, it is highly unlikely that you would be able to get maternity coverage in the individual insurance market. An investigation conducted by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce confirmed that major insurers consider pregnancy to be a pre-existing condition that would result in an…
-
Washington State Insurance Commissioner Stands Up for Kids
“They can’t say children, just because of their age, can’t be insured. So today I am ordering Regence to once more offer insurance coverage for children.” With those words, Washington State’s Insurance Commissioner, Mike Kreidler, stood up for children and ordered Regence Blue Shield to “cease and desist” from eliminating its child-only policies. Regence is one…
-
HHS Announces Consumer Assistance Grants
By Joe Touschner Implementation of the Affordable Care Act continues: Today, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced about $30 million in grants to states to fund consumer assistance activities. The grants will support efforts to aid consumers in navigating health insurance, whether it is finding affordable coverage, dealing with a disputed claim denial, or applying the…
-
Medicaid and CHIP Buy-In Could Help Children Excluded from Private Market
Meg Comeau, Director of the Catalyst Centerat the Boston University School of Public Health A little over six months ago, I watched the signing of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on television. I was filled with hope that as a nation we’d finally taken a giant step forward in ensuring access to high quality health…
-
What’s Happening in the Employer Market?
By Martha Heberlein Despite its declining role in recent years, employer-sponsored insurance is a staple of coverage in the U.S. and still accounts for the largest share of health coverage. In fact, in 2009, 56% of people were covered by some form of ESI. However, as the recently released annual Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research and…
-
Behind Door #1….Coverage!
By Claudia Page, Social Interest Solutions The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is truly a game-changer in how consumers will connect to coverage. For many consumers, especially low-income individuals in need of public benefits, seeking coverage today is a complicated maze of paper forms and referrals, disconnected eligibility systems and silos, multiple trips to social services…
-
Florida Ruling Swings Pendulum Toward Supreme Court
[The following blog was originally published on the Community Catalyst’s Health Policy Hub.] By Eva Marie Stahl, Community Catalyst Policy Consultant Yesterday, the federal judge in Florida, Roger Vinson, allowed the lawsuit against the new health law to go forward. In his ruling, the Judge maintained that there were constitutional issues in play and formal…
-
Administration Goes to Bat for Children With Pre-Existing Conditions
Today the Obama Administration displayed its firm commitment to stand up for children with pre-existing conditions. HHS Secretary Sebelius sent a letter to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners condemning the insurance industry for failing to follow through on their commitment to allow families with sick or disabled children to buy child-only insurance coverage. (As…
-
Consumer Rep Previews the National Association of Insurance Commissioners National Meeting
By Sabrina Corlette, Georgetown Health Policy Institute Hard to believe it’s come around again but that National Associatin of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is gearing up for a big national meeting – this time in Orlando, Florida from October 18-21. I and my fellow consumer representatives will be packing our Mickey Mouse ears and fanning out at the…