Medicaid Enrollment is Up – as Expected

By Edwin Park, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Media reports have expressed surprise, even concern, that early enrollment in Medicaid under health reform has outpaced enrollment in the new health insurance marketplaces so far.  But, that was expected to happen, even before the well-documented technical problems affecting HealthCare.gov, the federal marketplace website. The fact is, the […]

Helping Consumers Understand Their Coverage Options from Coast to Coast

By Sarah Dash, Kevin Lucia, and Justin Giovannelli of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms To help consumers enroll in the recently opened health insurance marketplaces, the Affordable Care Act created outreach and consumer assistance positions such as “navigators,” in-person assisters, and certified application counselors. Although awareness of the marketplaces and the financial help they may offer has […]

New Guidance on Individual Mandate: New Hardship Exemption for Those Who Enroll at the End of the Initial Enrollment Period

By Tara Mancini While open enrollment for Marketplace plans extends to March 31, 2014, there’s been some concern that an earlier date—February 15—marked the deadline for those without coverage to sign up to avoid tax penalties for going without insurance. On Monday, CMS released additional guidance on the ACA’s individual shared responsibility requirement to address […]