Final HHS Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2016: Brief Summary of Key Provisions for the 2016 Plan Year
On February 27, 2015, the federal Department of Health and Human Services published the Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2016 Final Rule, which included several provisions pertaining to form review. This analysis, prepared by the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms, provides a brief summary of the key provisions specific to form review and other notable provisions specific to the 2016 plan year.
A Guide to Meaningful Difference
Federal regulations state that in order to be certified as a Qualified Health Plan in a Federally-facilitated marketplace, plans must be considered “meaningfully different” from all other plans in their subgroup. This document, prepared by the Georgetown Health Policy Institute’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms, is intended to help insurance regulators to understand meaningful difference standards and the ways in which they are applied by CMS.
Updated: ACA Checklists for Departments of Insurance
Stemming from training at insurance departments in various State Network states, Georgetown University Health Policy Institute (Georgetown) has released updated form review checklists. These resources are designed to help insurance regulators effectively implement Affordable Care Act (ACA) provisions, regulations, and other guidance by ensuring that insurance forms submitted by carriers meet all the ACA requirements.
Webinar: Considerations for 2016 Health Insurance Rate Development, Filing and Review
This webinar explored considerations for 2016 rate development, filing and review based on a compilation of CMS regulations and guidance as well as insights from Wakely Consulting Group Actuaries.
State Network – Medicaid Expansion States See Significant Budget Savings and Revenue Gains
As states continue to look for new ways to balance their budgets, early results from states that have expanded Medicaid show significant state budget savings after just the first year of expansion. Twenty-six states have expanded Medicaid—this brief focuses on the budget impact in two states: Kentucky and Arkansas.
Tax Season Special Enrollment Periods
The second open enrollment period (OEP) under the Affordable Care Act ended on February 15, with more than 11.4 million people enrolled in coverage through the Federal and state Marketplaces. Attention now turns to the 2014 tax filing season. Many tax filers who were uninsured for all or part of 2014 are learning for the first time that they must pay a penalty, and have missed the opportunity to enroll in 2015 coverage. These gaps in consumer awareness, combined with the timing of this year’s OEP, have led to several Marketplaces allowing certain uninsured consumers additional time to enroll in order to avoid paying a penalty next year.
Webinar: Overview of Medicaid Marketplace Premium Assistance Waiver Programs
As of January 27, 2015, two states have received approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to expand Medicaid through private market-based coverage. These premium assistance programs have paved the way for the non-expansion states who continue to discuss how they might expand their Medicaid programs. These new models offer viable alternatives for covering previously uninsured populations while addressing those states’ concerns about some of the budgetary, political, and market challenges associated with traditional Medicaid expansion.
Department of Insurance Consumer Services ACA Toolkit – Marketplace Financial Assistance and Tax Filing Issues, including Form 1095-A
The State Network team at the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute previously developed a toolkit to assist insurance regulators in assuring that Department of Insurance consumer service representatives (CSRs) are well versed in all aspects of insurance basics (for new staff), as well as the changes brought about by the ACA and other recent reforms. The information in this document has recently been added to the consumer services toolkit, and includes updated information on marketplace financial assistance and related tax filing issues, including Form 1095-A.
Short-term, Limited-duration Insurance and Excepted Benefits
Excepted benefits and short-term, limited-duration insurance are insurance products that are exempted from the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) consumer protections. Recent questions from several states have indicated that some confusion exists about which insurance products qualify as “excepted benefits” and are therefore exempt from several requirements of the ACA, such as coverage for preventive health services, a prohibition on lifetime limits, and minimum value requirements…
Reference Pricing: An Overview and Suggested Policy Considerations
Reference pricing is intended to reduce medical costs both for insurers and for purchasers of health care services, encouraging enrollees to obtain services from lower-cost providers and motivates higher cost providers to lower their reimbursement rates for those same services. This issue brief, prepared by the Georgetown Health Policy Institute’s Center of Health Insurance Reforms, provides an overview of this pricing method and federal guidance that has been issued to date…