Happen to be in the Birmingham/Bloomfield area of Michigan on Monday, Jan. 8th? Swing by the Bloomfield Township Public Library at 1099 Lone Pine Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302 from 7pm - 9pm, where I'll be giving the Birmingham/Bloomfield Democratic Club an overview of the ACA/healthcare landscape situation now that the dust has mostly settled on the 2018 Open Enrollment Period.
Re: Updated Cost Estimate for S. 1827, the Keep Kids’ Insurance Dependable and Secure Act of 2017
Dear Mr. Chairman:
The Congressional Budget Office and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) have updated their estimate of S. 1827, the Keep Kids’ Insurance Dependable and Secure Act of 2017, to account for the enactment of Public Law 115-97, which repealed the penalties related to the individual health insurance mandate starting in 2019, and to account for administrative action. The agencies now estimate that enacting this legislation would increase the deficit by $0.8 billion over the 2018-2027 period.
This one is quite a head-scratcher, but let me see if I can peel the onion.
A week or so ago, there was some confusing news about how Donald Trump may or may not be planning on signing a new healthcare-related executive order. I didn't write about it earlier because at first it sounded like he was talking about a meaningless "sell across state lines" decree...meaningless because the ACA already allows carriers to sell ACA-compliant policies across state lines, as long as the states in question sign onto an interstate compact.
Health Action 2018 Kicks Off the Hottest Ticket for Assisters
by Heather Bates & Liz Hagan
If you work on enrollment or support enrollment-related work, we are excited to announce new opportunities available at Health Action this year! Thanks to our host, Families USA, the National Association of Health Access Assisters (NAHAA) will launch officially at #HA2018. With four in-depth workshops and several networking opportunities, trust us that this year is not to be missed.
The Washington HealthPlan Finder issued a press release today urging people to #GetCovered before their upcoming January 15th Open Enrollment deadline. At first glance it looks like a pretty disappointing update ("over 231,00 QHPs"), since their previous update as of 12/15 was already 230,591, suggesting only a few hundred more people enrolled between December 16th - January 2nd...
Washington Healthplanfinder Reminds Residents It’s Not Too Late to Get Covered
Customers have until 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 15 to sign up for 2018 health and dental plans
The Washington Health Benefit Exchange is reminding residents there is still time to sign up for 2018 health and dental coverage through Washington Healthplanfinder. Customers have 12 more days to make their plan selections before the open enrollment period closes at 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 15.
With less than two weeks remaining until the deadline, more than 231,000 Washingtonians have already used Washington Healthplanfinder to secure their coverage for 2018.
BALTIMORE (JAN. 4, 2018) – A total of 153,571 Marylanders enrolled in private health coverage during the 2018 open enrollment for Maryland Health Connection, the state-based health insurance marketplace.
In an open enrollment period that was about half as long as a year ago, average daily enrollment in qualified health plans was up 69 percent compared to the prior open enrollment. There were an average of 2,953 enrollments each day during the recent 52-day period, compared to 1,752 average daily enrollments during a 90-day enrollment period a year ago.
“We are thrilled by the robust turnout for 2018 coverage,” said Michele Eberle, executive director of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, which administers Maryland Health Connection. “Our hats are off to our call center, consumer assisters and brokers who helped process roughly as many enrollments as last year during a much shorter open enrollment period. We believe the result will be better access and better health outcomes for Maryland families.”
Health spending growth has slowed, and is now more on pace with economic growth
From 1970 – 1980, the average annual growth in the U.S. economy was 9.2% per year, compared to health spending growth of 12.2%. Although health spending growth has since moderated, it generally continued to outpace growth of the economy, though by a somewhat smaller margin. The 2010 – 2013 period, however, saw an average annual growth rate in health expenditures that was similar to growth in GDP. Health spending did pick back up in 2014 and 2015 with the coverage expansions of the Affordable Care Act.
One of the least-known but most important aspects of the Affordable Care Act is the Medical Loss Ratio:
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes several provisions that change the way private health insurance is regulated in an effort to provide better value to consumers and increase transparency. One such provision – the Medical Loss Ratio (or MLR) requirement – limits the portion of premium dollars health insurers may spend on administration, marketing, and profits. Under health care reform, health insurers must publicly report the portion of premium dollars spent on health care and quality improvement and other activities in each state they operate. Insurers failing to meet the applicable MLR standard must pay rebates to consumers beginning in 2012.
Between November 1 and December 31, 2017, 33,021 individuals selected a plan through HealthSource RI. Though Open Enrollment has ended, customers who began, but did not complete, the enrollment process by December 31 will be able to finalize their 2018 enrollment process between January 1 and January 23. HealthSource RI is communicating directly with customers who are eligible for this opportunity. For this reason, final 2018 Open Enrollment figures will not be available until later in the month.
At HealthCare.Gov, around 66,000 stragglers/special case enrollments were added to the total between 12/16 - 12/23, which would translate into around 250 more people in Rhode Island, give or take. Of course, HC.gov also lost 145,000 enrollees due to people dropping their renewals/etc, but RI's exchange is structured a bit differently, with auto-renewals being added on day one, so most of those folks likely already dropped out before the 12/31 tally anyway. My guess is the final total will end up around 33.2K.
