This expert perspective includes recommended communication strategies—and some examples—for how states can elevate coverage options and help ensure that more residents can access health insurance during these uncertain times.
This expert perspective reviews the key indicators currently being tracked by states via their COVID-19 dashboards and also provides an overview of “best practices” states can consider when developing or modifying these same COVID-19 dashboards.
As concerns regarding widespread COVID-19 (Coronavirus) infection in the United States increase, state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) agencies are evaluating how to leverage their public health insurance programs to respond. This expert perspective discusses strategies state Medicaid and CHIP agencies can pursue as part of their emergency preparedness planning for, and response to, COVID-19.
In this Expert Perspective, our colleagues at Manatt Health review the Supreme Court’s decisions granting the Administration’s requests to stay preliminary injunctions that had blocked the Department of Homeland Security public charge final rule from taking effect in October 2019.
On February 6, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) published its annual draft rule governing core provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including the operation of the marketplaces, standards for individual and small-group market health plans, and premium stabilization programs. This expert perspective focuses on several policies that would have implications for state insurance regulation and the operation of the state-based marketplaces (SBMs). Comments on the rule are due March 2, 2020.
As we round out the seventh year of ACA open enrollment, State Health and Value Strategies (SHVS) is reflecting on the successful steps that states have taken to provide quality, affordable health coverage to more residents and draw on lessons learned as this work moves forward. SHVS is excited to launch a series of posts featuring policy and outreach strategies states are employing to meet the needs of their residents. This Expert Perspective highlights some of the key ways in which states are driving efforts to increase enrollment this past open enrollment period. Subsequent posts will include deep dives into certain specific state policies and outreach strategies, such as plan standardization and targeted outreach to address health disparities in coverage.
In 2019, the Washington legislature enacted a bill requiring insurers on the state’s health insurance exchange to offer plans with standardized benefit designs, beginning in 2021. Colorado and Maryland are considering similar requirements. As these and other states consider the option of standardized health plans, they can benefit from the experiences of California, the District of Columbia (D.C.), Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, and Vermont, all of which require insurers to offer standardized benefit designs. This Expert Perspective outlines benefits and risks of plan standardization, and raises critical questions that states will need to consider, and offers a decision roadmap for states implementing a standardized benefit design requirement.
On October 4, the President issued a proclamation that requires immigrants to show that they have health insurance or can pay medical expenses out of pocket in order to receive a visa. The proclamation will impact individuals applying for a visa with the Department of State (DOS) through consular offices abroad. In this expert perspective, Manatt Health reviews this latest policy regarding uninsured noncitizens and provides their take on implications for states.
In recent months, states have increasingly introduced proposals for individuals above Medicaid eligibility levels to “buy-in” to Medicaid or leverage the Medicaid program to strengthen coverage across the individual market and Medicaid. State Health and Value Strategies is tracking current state activity and has mapped out which states are pursuing a program and those that are establishing task forces to understand the impact of a Medicaid buy-in program.
On March 27, for the second time, a federal judge vacated the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approval of Kentucky’s Medicaid 1115 demonstration waiver to test, among other things, a work requirement as a condition of Medicaid eligibility. In a related case of Arkansas’s Medicaid work requirements demonstration, the judge likewise vacated the federal approval, remanding it to CMS for further consideration. Notably, because Arkansas, unlike Kentucky, had already implemented the work requirements, the decision requires the state to cease its work requirement and related Medicaid disenrollments. This expert perspective reviews the court’s decision and its implications for both Kentucky and Arkansas and other states with similar approved or pending waiver requests, as well as for states contemplating imposing work or other “community engagement” requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries.