Charles Gaba's blog

via the Idaho Dept. of Insurance:

Each year, the Idaho Department of Insurance posts rate changes of individual and small group health insurance products so consumers can review and provide comments on the proposed increases.  Insurance companies submit proposed rates for the upcoming calendar year to the Department, along with descriptions and justifications for why the rates are reasonable and not excessive.  

The Department of Insurance is seeking public input for rate changes of individual and small group health insurance products to improve insurer accountability and transparency.  By following the links below, the public can access a summary of the increase amounts and the carrier justifications for the rates.  Please submit any comments to the Department for consideration.

Preliminary Rates - 2024

Please choose one of the categories to proceed:

Back in March, after years of failed and stalled attempts to get it passed, the North Carolina legislature finally pushed ACA Medicaid expansion over the line to be signed into law by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.

As for when the program would actually go into effect, however...that's been something of a mystery for awhile now. Apparently the wording of the legislation ties it in with it being included in the general state budget, which hasn't happened yet. As a result, no one seems to be sure whether NC Medicaid expansion will kick off in October, November, December or January of next year.

However, the state's Health & Human Services Dept. has decided to take a proactive, optimistic stance:

State Takes Action To Start Medicaid Expansion Oct. 1; Launch depends on General Assembly acting by Sept. 1

via New York State of Health:

  • Nearly Three Quarters of New Yorkers Enrolled in Medicaid, Child Health Plus or the Essential Plan Have Renewed Their Coverage by the June Deadline; Renewal Strategies Are Working; Others Still Have Time to Act
  • New York Outperforming National Average as Reported by KFF
  • Monthly Dashboard Tracks Renewal Status, Demographics, and State Program Transitions During Public Health Emergency Unwind  

ALBANY, N.Y. (July 18, 2023) – The New York State Department of Health today released the first issue of New York’s Public Health Emergency Unwind Dashboard, a monthly report reflecting data on renewal status, demographics, and program transitions for public health insurance enrollees, which shows renewal outreach strategies are working.  The report indicates that roughly 72 percent of New Yorkers enrolled in Medicaid, Child Health Plus or the Essential Plan renewed their coverage before the June deadline to re-enroll and those who haven’t still have time to act to avoid potential lapses in coverage. As reported by KFF, the national renewal rate for states reporting data is 59 percent.

I thought I had finally posted the last entry regarding the Friday Health Plans debacle, but there's still some mopping up left to do in a few states.

via Connect for Health Colorado:

Friday Health Plans Coverage Ending August 31

DENVER— Today, the Colorado Division of Insurance (DOI) announced that they have asked the courts to move Friday Health Plans of Colorado into liquidation, which will end coverage for Friday Health Plans customers on August 31, 2023. 

Chief Executive Officer of Connect for Health Colorado, Kevin Patterson, released the following statement: 

A few weeks ago I noted that, thanks to California Governor Gavin Newsom and the Democratically-controlled state legislature finally reaching a compromise agreement on how to allocate ~$330 million/year in revenue generated by the state's individual mandate penalty, around $83 million will be utilized to dramatically reduce out of pocket expenses for hundreds of thousands of ACA exchange enrollees.

Via Amy Lotven of Inside Health Policy:

UPDATE: It turns out that this is not a "new" study; it's the final, peer-reviewed version of the same pre-print study from last fall by the same researchers, which makes a lot more sense.

Yesterday morning a new study was published at the Journal for the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network website:

Excess Death Rates for Republican and Democratic Registered Voters in Florida and Ohio During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Jacob Wallace, PhD; Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, PhD; Jason L. Schwartz, PhD

If this study title and its authors sound vaguely familiar, it's because the same three researchers (from the Yale School of Public Health/Management) published a similar study last fall...which I wrote about at the time:

Last year I went pretty off-topic with a lengthy, in-the-weeds post about my experience shopping for, buying and driving an electric vehicle for the first time which received a decent level of attention.

I didn't actually get around to writing up the post until June, but I actually bought the car, a 2022 Kia Niro EV, in early March 2022. My write-up included my experience taking a road trip from my home in a suburb north of Detroit, Michigan to Washington, DC and back.

Well, it's 16 months later, I've driven over 10,000 miles in the new car, and I just got back from another road trip to DC & back.

As I noted in my last update from March of this year, the EV industry and market have both gone through some tumultuous changes since I first bought my car, including (but not limited to):

Just wanted to let my readers know that I'll be on vacation from tomorrow (Saturday the 14th) through the following Sunday the 23rd.

I'll post something if there's a major ACA/healthcare development but otherwise no site updates until Monday the 24th.

via Cara Smith of Inside Health Policy:

Some health care policy experts are sounding the alarm that allowing standalone telehealth plans may simply be a shortcut for employers to cut rising health care costs while subverting Affordable Care Act consumer protections, but telehealth proponents tout the policy as simply a way to complement not replace more-expansive health insurance benefits. The debate has been muddied by confusion over how the bill’s “excepted benefits” policy differs from a narrower pandemic waiver that allowed some workers to get standalone telehealth plans that mimicked excepted benefits.

The Telehealth Benefit Expansion for Workers Act would add telehealth as an excepted benefit to the “menu” of health care options for all employees, not just those who do not qualify for major medical insurance plans as was the case under an expired pandemic telehealth flexibility. The legislation has been passed by the House Education & the Workforce committee and will be taken up by E&C Thursday (July 13).

via MNsure:

ST. PAUL, Minn.—As roughly 1.5 million Minnesotans who currently have Medical Assistance (Minnesota’s Medicaid program) or MinnesotaCare coverage are scheduled to go through the eligibility renewal process over the next year, some will find out they are no longer eligible for these public health care programs and need to find new health insurance. Minnesota’s official health insurance marketplace, MNsure, is here to help those Minnesotans find new coverage.

“If you learn you no longer qualify for Medical Assistance or MinnesotaCare coverage, you may have more health insurance options than you think,” said MNsure CEO Libby Caulum. “MNsure is here to help you and your family understand your options, apply for discounts to save money on monthly premiums, and make a smooth transition to a private health plan if you’re eligible. We can help you find new coverage so you can keep getting the care you need.”

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