Affordability
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The Family Glitch Persists, Affordability Measure Increases to 9.56% in OE2
Everyone agrees it’s not fair to families and is an unintended consequence of how the Affordable Care Act is being implemented. But somehow our country’s leaders just cannot reach a consensus on fixing the family glitch. Families caught up in the glitch cannot qualify for premium tax credits to reduce the cost of a marketplace…
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Kaiser Study: Employer Coverage Remains Steady, But Long Term Trends Highlight Need To Strengthen All Forms Of Coverage
By Sean Miskell Despite concerns that the Affordable Care Act’s reforms would undermine employer –sponsored health insurance, a recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that employer coverage remains steady and premiums have increased only modestly. While this is welcome news, long-term trends that show decreasing employer coverage – and increasing costs for those…
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Do Nothing to Renew or Get an Updated Eligibility Determination? CMS Puts out Final Marketplace Renewal Rules
CMS has adopted the proposed rules for QHP renewal and redetermination of premium tax credits published with very few changes. As I wrote in this blog, the good news is that the final rules provide an opportunity for consumers to be automatically re-enrolled in the same or a similar plan without taking action. The downside…
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“Peace of Mind”: professional dancers, the ACA, and affordable coverage
Professional dancers push their bodies for years to meet the physical demands of their work, which makes access to health insurance a high priority for these performing artists. A recent Kaiser Health News article examined the issue of health insurance affordability and access through the lens of a ballet dancer, highlighting the peace of mind…
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MACPAC: Extend CHIP, Address Affordability and Adequacy of Children’s Coverage
Those of us in the child health world know an important topic for the coming year is the future of CHIP and whether funding will be extended beyond September 2015. We at CCF are convinced it is necessary for CHIP to remain strong and stable alongside Medicaid for the foreseeable future to maintain our nation’s…
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Bill to Address Family Glitch Introduced in the Senate
By Joe Touschner The family glitch is well known to many Say Ahhh! readers: Children and spouses of workers are barred from subsidies to purchase health insurance if employer coverage for the worker is deemed affordable and is offered—at any price—to the family. CCF, along with other organizations, encouraged the Treasury Department back in 2011…
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Two States On the Path to the Basic Health Program
Both Minnesota and New York are on the path to setting up a Basic Health Program (BHP) that will provide more affordable coverage for low-income families than they may find on the marketplace. Minnesota passed BHP legislation that was signed into law in May 2013. In New York, BHP was included in the Governor’s budget…
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Handling Premiums with Care in Medicaid, CHIP and the Marketplace
In my former life as a CHIP director, I came to appreciate how tough it is for low-income families to make ends meet. In the hierarchy of needs, I think we all agree that paying the rent and utilities, putting food on the table, and making sure you can show up for work by having…
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One Step Closer to the Basic Health Program
While many of us have our focus on health coverage that begins on January 1, 2014, I am also keeping my eye on a new option for states to provide more affordable coverage to low-income parents and other adults that starts on January 1, 2015. Right before Thanksgiving, we filed comments on the Basic Health…
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Finding Information on 2014 Premiums and Tax Credits
By Joe Touschner As the Administration continues to improve Healthcare.gov, families, consumer assisters, advocates, and others may be looking for other sources of information about what plans will be available through marketplaces in 2014 and what they will cost after taking premium tax credits into account. Fortunately, there are some resources available from HHS and…
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Delaying the Individual Mandate is a Bad Idea
The Urban Institute released a handy explainer this week, detailing why proposals to delay the individual mandate are a bad idea. Proponents of such a delay argue that if the Obama Administration delayed the employer mandate, they should also delay the individual mandate. However, unlike the employer mandate, the individual mandate is like a leg on a three-legged stool.…
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While Premium Growth has Slowed, Annual Employer Survey Shows a Mixed Bag for Lower-Wage Workers
By Martha Heberlein The good news: Premium growth in 2012 was a modest 4% by historical standards, according to the annual Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research and Educational Trust Employer Health Benefits Survey. But there’s much room for progress, especially for lower-income families. Over the last decade, the average premium for family coverage has increased 80%.…
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Response to Sticker Shock: More Expensive Than What?
Whenever I read stories about the sticker shock that may hit some consumers when the Affordable Care Act takes effect, it reminds me that buying insurance can be more mystifying than buying a new car. There have been so many jalopies being sold in “mint condition” in the wild west of the insurance market for…
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Health Reform at Work – Lower Rates in New York
By Christine Monahan, Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms New Yorkers currently or considering purchasing coverage in the individual market woke up to exciting news today: premiums in 2014 are expected to be cut by more than half. And that’s for the most generous coverage on the market. New Yorkers will also be able to purchase…
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Our Initial Take on Today’s Final Medicaid, CHIP, Exchange Rule
I’m holding the fort down at CCF while most of my colleagues get a few well-deserved days off. But unfortunately that means I drew the short straw for a first look at final Medicaid and Exchange regulations released on this hot, humid day wedged between a national holiday and what could be a long weekend.…
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Figuring Out Premium Tax Credits
By Joe Touschner [For more up-to-date information on figuring out premium tax credits, visit Consumer Reports health tax credit tool or state specific brochures. Kaiser Family Foundation has also updated its subsidy calculator.] Insurers have been filing small group and non-group rates in several states recently, leading to claims and counter-claims about whether the ACA…
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Vermont Preliminary Rate Filings Offers First Look at Exchange Pricing
By Christine Monahan, Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms In the midst of much analysis of the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on health insurance premiums, Vermont became the first state to release preliminary rate filings for plans to be sold in their health insurance exchange in 2014. The good news is that people generally haven’t…
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Diving Deep on Two New Rate Studies
By Christine Monahan and Katie Keith, Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms With many of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) most significant reforms expected to go into effect in 2014, policymakers and the media have increasingly turned their attention to the law’s price tag for consumers. Republican lawmakers, for example, sounded the alarm about…
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New Options for Young Invincibles
By Christina Postolowski, Young Invincibles The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will provide enormous new benefits to young Americans – in fact, it already has. Last month, Gallup released a poll showing that the uninsured rate for young adults under 26 decreased yet again, a drop of six percent since 2009. The drop is due in…
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Replacing ARKids First with Exchange Coverage Would Put Children – and Arkansas’s Success – at Risk
Like most health policy folks, I have been watching developments in my home state of Arkansas with much interest. Recent media reports have discussed interest among state leaders to use Medicaid to purchase plans on the exchange, also known as the marketplace that will make private insurance available to many uninsured Arkansans starting next year…