As the Writers Guild of America's ongoing strike enters its fifth month (and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA, approaches 50 days with their own strike for similar demands), Jackie Fortier has an interesting article at NPR about one of the less-discussed aspects which is often much higher profile in union strikes: Health insurance:
The health insurance offered by both unions is predicated on the notion that it is for members who work consistently and lucratively enough to make a minimum amount of money.
...the policy offered by the screenwriters guild, for instance, feels like a holdover from a bygone age. It has no monthly premiums, costs $600 per year to cover the rest of your immediate family and has deductibles that are in the hundreds – not thousands – of dollars.
At the time, the weighted average rate increases requested by insurance carriers in Maine were a steep 17.9% hike for the individual market and a 15.8% increase on the small group market.
CMS Takes Action to Protect Health Care Coverage for Children and Families
States must assess and fix their systems so eligible children and families can stay covered.
Today, and as part of its ongoing work to make sure all Americans have access to health care coverage, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sent a letter to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islandsrequiring them to determine whether they have an eligibility systems issue that could cause people, especially children, to be disenrolled from Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) even if they are still eligible for coverage, and requiring them to immediately act to correct the problem and reinstate coverage.
In July, Covered California announced the preliminary weighted average 2024 premium rate changes for the ACA individual market. They still haven't released the final/approved rates, or the small group market average rate changes, but today they released the final rate changes for standalone dental plans:
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Covered California announced that the statewide weighted average rate change for dental coverage in 2024 will be 4.31 percent. The rate increase is the first since 2020 and continues a trend of holding costs steady for consumers.
Marketplace Hosts Informational Campus Events, Enrollment Assistors Help Eligible New Yorkers Maintain Health Coverage as Renewal Deadlines Approach
ALBANY, N.Y. (August 28, 2023) – NY State of Health, the state’s official health plan Marketplace, today announced a state-wide college campaign, with informational events taking place on campuses as students return. Certified enrollment assistors will be available in popular spots on campus to educate students on affordable, quality health insurance through the Marketplace, and help current enrollees renew their coverage.
There Are Just a Few Days Left for Friday Health Plans Customers to Avoid a Gap in Coverage
08/29/2023
Customers must enroll in a plan by this Thursday to have coverage that starts Sept. 1
DENVER— Friday Health Plans customers have less than three days to choose a new health insurance plan before their current health insurance coverage ends. Last month, the Colorado Division of Insurance announced that it had asked the courts to move Friday Health Plans into liquidation, ending coverage for all Friday Health Plans customers on August 31, 2023. Connect for Health Colorado, the state’s official health insurance marketplace, continues to urge Friday Health Plans customers to sign up for a new plan on or before this Thursday, August 31, to avoid a gap in coverage.
Since 2013, Navigators have helped Americans understand their health insurance options and facilitated their enrollment in health insurance coverage through the Federally-facilitated Marketplace (FFM). As trusted community partners, their mission focuses on assisting the uninsured and other underserved communities. Navigators serve an important role in connecting communities to health coverage, including communities that historically have experienced lower access to health coverage and greater disparities in health outcomes. Entities and individuals cannot serve as Navigators without receiving federal cooperative agreement funding, authorized in the Affordable Care Act, to perform Navigator duties.
New York's implementation of the ACA's Basic Health Plan provision (Section 1331 of the law) is called the Essential Plan. It currently serves over 1.1 million New Yorkers, or over 5x as many residents as ACA exchange plans do.
Under the ACA, most states have expanded Medicaid to people with income up to 138 percent of the poverty level. But people with incomes very close to the Medicaid eligibility cutoff frequently experience changes in income that result in switching from Medicaid to ACA’s qualified health plans (QHPs) and back. This “churning” creates fluctuating healthcare costs and premiums, and increased administrative work for the insureds, the QHP carriers and Medicaid programs.
The out-of-pocket differences between Medicaid and QHPs are significant, even for people with incomes just above the Medicaid eligibility threshold who qualify for cost-sharing subsidies.
Not much noteworthy here other than that Celtic is joining the Delaware individual market for the first time next year. Aetna Health seems to have added a second division in the small group market as well, but perhaps not since both the requested rate change and the current enrollment are identical to the existing Aetna Health listing, so I'm not sure what to make of that. It's a nominal number of enrollees, however, so it doesn't really move the needle anyway.
In any event, Delaware carriers are asking for an average 4.7% rate increase on the individual market and an 8.7% hike for small group plans...subject to state regulatory approval, of course.
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.
