Marketplace
-
Are People in Immigrant Families Gaining Coverage Under Health Reform?
I tried to answer this question for a presentation at an immigration conference right before the holidays. Unfortunately, although we are in our second open enrollment season under health reform, we can’t fully answer this question yet. What we do know indicates that we are making some progress but have a lot more work to…
-
49 National Groups to MACPAC: Keep CHIP While Improving Exchanges for Kids
Compared to what?! – This line is a favorite of my four-year-old from the popular Marcel the Shell with Shoes On web series. If you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing as I have many times, Marcel makes funny observations about his role and size in the world. The full quote (which you can see…
-
Tennessee Proposal Highlights Importance of Medicaid Expansion for Residents and Providers
By Sean Miskell This week, Governor Haslam announced his plan to expand Medicaid via a two-year pilot program called Insure Tennessee. Like other formerly recalcitrant states that are now embracing expansion, Tennessee is pursuing a state-specific approach that differs from ‘traditional’ Medicaid expansion. One element of this plan – in which the Tennessee Hospital Association…
-
How Do Minimum Essential Coverage and Minimum Value Tests Impact Consumers with Employer-Offered Coverage
By JoAnn Volk and Sandy Ahn, Center on Health Insurance Reforms Open enrollment in the Health Insurance Marketplaces overlaps this year with many employer plan open enrollment periods, which has prompted some employees to ask questions about how their offer of employer coverage may affect their eligibility for premium tax credits for a marketplace plan.…
-
A Step Forward For Lawfully Present Immigrants Living in Poverty
It’s no secret that during last year’s open enrollment many applicants for health coverage in immigrant families faced major barriers to enrolling in marketplace coverage. One big problem was that lawfully present immigrants with income under 100 percent FPL—who are ineligible for Medicaid based on their immigration status but are eligible for premium tax credits…
-
State-Based Marketplaces Offer More Health Plan Options for 2015
By Sean Miskell The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was designed to make quality health coverage more affordable and accessible, in part by promoting competition among insurers in the law’s new marketplaces. By providing consumers with a portal through which to compare plans and obtain financial assistance with the cost of coverage, policymakers hoped the marketplaces…
-
New Policy Brief Outlines Strategies to Improve Children’s Oral Health
By Colin Reusch, Children’s Dental Health Project Despite evidence that access to dental care in Medicaid and CHIP is on the rise, tooth decay remains the most common chronic condition among children. And while tooth decay is especially prevalent among children of low-income families, less than half of all children enrolled in Medicaid see a…
-
HHS Proposes EHB Rule Changes
By Joe Touschner Though the Institute of Medicine, the administration, and many states spent more than a year developing the essential health benefits, the resulting approach was intended to be temporary. The “benchmark plan” method for choosing the EHBs initially applied to plan years 2014 and 2015, with a review of the approach promised for…
-
The President’s Immigration Announcement: What Do Health Policy Wonks Need to Know?
Last Thursday, President Obama announced immigration reforms that will provide up to five million people with relief from deportation and work authorization. While the reforms will do much to alleviate the constant fear of separation that many immigrant families face, most people included in the reforms will not be eligible for federal health coverage affordability…
-
How Could Executive Action on Parents Reduce the Number of Uninsured Citizen Kids?
Here’s something that most news stories on President Obama’s Executive Order probably are not touching on — protecting several million parents from deportation is likely to reduce the number of uninsured kids – the vast majority of them citizens. As child health experts, we have pointed out for years that reducing the number of uninsured…
-
House Companion Bill Introduced to Extend Primary Care Rate Bump
By Sophia Duong Earlier this week, Representative Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) introduced the Ensuring Access to Primary Care for Women & Children Act (H.R. 5723), a bill aimed at continuing the Medicaid primary care increase for 2015 and 2016. The primary care bump is set to expire at the end of this year. H.R. 5723 also…
-
New Report on States’ Oversight of Health Plan Network Adequacy
At yesterday’s National Association of Insurance Commissioner’s (NAIC) national meeting, the consumer representatives to the NAIC released a report on state approaches to regulating and monitoring the adequacy of health plan provider networks. The report, made possible thanks to a generous grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, summarizes the results of a survey sent…
-
Consumers Should Resist the Urge to Do Nothing and Renew Coverage through the Federal Marketplace
When enrollment reopens in the health insurance marketplaces in just a few days, the 7-8 million current enrollees will have an opportunity to make sure they get the right amount of financial assistance and are enrolled in a plan that best fits their needs for 2015. This new brief outlines the process for consumers in…
-
Renewing Coverage Through the Federal Marketplace
This brief describes how consumers will update their eligibility for financial assistance and renew enrollment in a QHP through the federal marketplace. It’s a smart choice for consumers to update their information and compare QHPs, which includes new plan choices in many areas. However, most consumers can keep the level of premium tax credits and cost-sharing…
-
We Can Reach the Finish Line on Health Coverage for Hispanic Kids
Ensuring that every child in America has the protection of health care coverage is an attainable goal. Today, in partnership with National Council of La Raza, we released a 50-state analysis of health coverage for Hispanic children. Our analysis found that Washington, DC is just a step away from the finish line already with 99…
-
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…
-
Essential Health Benefits Across the States
By Joe Touschner Who remembers the essential health benefits? It was more than two years ago when JoAnn Volk filled us in on the plans states were choosing as their benchmarks to help set the minimum benefits in individual and small group market plans. More recently, Wakely Consulting offered a very helpful comparison of benefits…
-
New Online Resource Provides Answers to Common Health Insurance and Marketplace Questions
Over the past year, experts from Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms and Center for Children and Families have been providing support to Navigators and assisters under a project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Our work includes back-office support to assisters in 6 states – Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Arizona, Arkansas and Michigan…
-
Raising the Curtain on Open Enrollment, Round Two
The second open enrollment period for the health insurance marketplaces, or OE2, is mere days away. As I wrote in this blog and the related Health Affairs story, OE2 will be part sequel and part new production. Taking a peek behind the curtain, what can the audience expect on open day, November 15th? Outreach and…
-
Open Enrollment 2: Experts Answer Tough Questions and Offer Advice to Help Navigators and Consumer Assisters
This week, Georgetown University experts from the Center on Health Insurance Reforms and the Center for Children and Families released a report from their ongoing project to support Navigators and consumer assisters. The project, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, provides Navigators and other in-person assisters in six states – Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan,…