Consumers continue to have more choices and stable premiums
The Biden-Harris Administration believes health coverage is a right, not a privilege, and is committed to investing in a robust Marketplace Open Enrollment campaign so everyone who needs health coverage can easily sign up for it. Starting today, HealthCare.gov consumers can preview their health care coverage options and see detailed information about 2024 health insurance plans and prices offered in their area ahead of the Open Enrollment period that begins November 1.
As we begin the 11th Open Enrollment period, the Marketplace is stronger than ever with lower out-of-pocket premiums thanks to the continuation of enhanced financial assistance under the Inflation Reduction Act. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, nearly 15 million Americans are saving an average of $800 a year on their health insurance premiums.
CEO Available for Interviews at Navigator Locations
WHO: James Michel, Chief Executive Officer of Access Health CT (AHCT), will be visiting Access Health CT Navigator locations Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023 in Hartford and Norwich, and Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023 in Bridgeport and Waterbury.
He is available for media interviews at each Navigator location by request. Connecticut residents can get free, in-person help from enrollment specialists at these Navigator locations year-round.
MARYLAND HEALTH CONNECTION HOSTS HISPANIC HEALTH ACCESS ROUNDTABLE
In Celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, MHC Engages in Community Initiatives to Empower Community
BALTIMORE (Oct. 20, 2023) – Maryland Health Connection continues to demonstrate its commitment to fostering health equity and improving access to coverage for all communities, including the Hispanic community as Hispanic Heritage Month wraps up and Open Enrollment approaches. In a collaborative effort to engage and inform the Latino community, Maryland Health Connection hosted the Hispanic Health Access Roundtable on Oct. 17, at the Montgomery College Rockville Campus.
Individual market open enrollment starts Nov. 1; preview available now on Washington Healthplanfinder
New this year – all Washingtonians, regardless of citizenship status, will have opportunity to shop for and purchase qualified health and dental plans for 2024
I debated how to word the headline for this blog post. On the one hand, the press release itself includes some important information and some genuinely good news re. cost savings for Colorado residents. On the other hand, I couldn't get past how hilariously misleading the headline itself is, so I decided to use the sublede instead.
Gov. Polis and DOI Announce 80% of Health Insurers to Decrease Premium Requests for 2024 and Increases Reinsurance Savings to $411M for Colorado Consumers
Nearly 20,000 more Coloradans could reduce deductibles to as low as $100.
DENVER - When it comes to health insurance, the Colorado Division of Insurance (DOI), part of the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), makes sure that insurance companies are complying with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as well as State law and our specific insurance regulations. Today, Governor Polis and the Division of Insurance announced 80% of health insurers will decrease premium requests for 2024.
The most noteworthy developments below are that in addition to Friday, Oscar and Bright Health Plans all leaving the Colorado market (as documented/reported on several times earlier this year), Aetna and Humana both appear to be dropping out of the states small group market.
In any event, the weighted average increase being requested is 9.2% on the individual market and 8.4% for the small group market.
Last month I noted that Michigan legislative Democrats were planning on passing a package of bills designed to repeal a bunch of restrictions on abortion & other reproductive healthcare:
Dems to end 24-hour abortion waiting period, ban on Medicaid funding of procedure
LANSING — Michigan Democrats said Wednesday they will repeal laws that require a 24-hour waiting period to have an abortion performed, impose what they say are costly and unnecessary regulatory burdens on abortion clinics, prohibit abortions funded by Medicaid, and ban private health insurers from automatically covering abortions under standard policies.
The list includes 9 major items (some of which actually include a lot more than one provision within them). It really should include ten, since I forgot about implementing a Basic Health Plan program like New York and Minnesota have (and as Oregon is ramping up to do soon as well), but it's still a pretty full plate.
October 16th: CMS approved a state plan amendment for Montana to extend postpartum coverage for a full year for individuals enrolled in Medicaid. The opportunity to extend postpartum coverage was made possible under the American Rescue Plan and made permanent in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. Montana’s approval marks 38 states, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands that have extended postpartum Medicaid coverage for an entire year. This approval supports the CMS Maternity Care Action Plan and Biden-Harris Maternal Health Blueprint.
via KFF, the 12 states which haven't expanded postpartum Medicaid coverage to a full year include:
The good news is that the federal Rate Review database has now posted the preliminary avg. 2024 rate filings for the individual and small group markets for every state. This makes it very easy to plug in the average requested rate changes in 2024 for every carrier participating in both markets.
The bad news is that most of the underlying filing forms are heavily redacted, meaning I can't use the RR database to acquire the other critical data I need in order to run a proper weighted average: The number of people actually enrolled in the policies for each carrier.
This means that in cases where this data isn't available elsewhere (either the state's insurance department website, the SERFF database or otherwise), I'm limited to running an unweighted average. This can make a huge difference...if one carrier is requesting a 10% increase and the other is keeping prices flat, that's a 5.0% unweighted average rate hike...but if the first carrier has 99,000 enrollees and the second only has 1,000, that means the weighted average is actually 9.9%.
