Residents Can Preview Available Plans and See if They Qualify for Financial Help Now at GetCovered.NJ.gov
9 in 10 people Who Enroll Qualify for Savings; Many Pay $10 a Month or Less for Health Coverage
TRENTON — Governor Phil Murphy and New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance Commissioner Marlene Caride announced today that consumers shopping for 2023 health coverage can start purchasing plans beginning November 1, 2022, when Open Enrollment begins at the state’s Official Health Insurance Marketplace, Get Covered New Jersey. Consumers will benefit from historic levels of financial help that remain available for the upcoming year and more plan options with the addition of a new insurance company offering plans on the marketplace.
Final rule creates Special Enrollment Periods and reduces gaps in Medicare coverage, and improves administration of the Medicare Savings Programs.
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule that updates Medicare enrollment and eligibility rules to expand coverage for people with Medicare and advance health equity. The final rule, which implements changes made by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), makes it easier for people to enroll in Medicare and eliminates delays in coverage. Among these changes, individuals will now have Medicare coverage the month immediately after their enrollment, thereby reducing any delays in coverage. In addition, the rule expands access through Medicare special enrollment periods (SEPs) and allows certain eligible beneficiaries to receive Medicare Part B coverage without a late enrollment penalty.
via the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), by email:
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the latest enrollment figures for Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). These programs serve as key connectors to care for more millions of Americans.
Medicare
As of July 2022, 64,831,706 people are enrolled in Medicare. This is an increase of 149,601 since the last report.
Biden-Harris Administration Announces More than Half of All States Have Expanded Access to 12 Months of Medicaid and CHIP Postpartum Coverage
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), announced that more than half of all states have expanded access to 12 months of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage after pregnancy. Georgia and Pennsylvania are the 25th and 26th states to be approved for the extended coverage, made possible by provisions in the American Rescue Plan (ARP), signed into law by President Biden in March of 2021. This announcement marks critical progress in the implementation of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Maternal Health Blueprint, a comprehensive strategy aimed at improving maternal health, particularly in underserved communities.
Back in August I was able to postestimated preliminary average 2023 rate changes for Texas' individual market. I emphasize "estimated" because the state insurance dept. website isn't helpful and even the filings found in the SERFF database only include actual enrollment data for about half of the dozen or so insurance carriers offering policies on the TX indy market. For the remaining carriers I had to use my best guesstimate of what the market share of each was in order to come up with a weighted average increase, which turned out to be +8.8% for unsubsidized enrollees.
Back in September, Covered California announced that the weighted average individual market premium increases for 2023 (for unsubsidized enrollees) will be around 5.6%, down slightly from the 6.0% average requested by carriers. However, the press release, besides not including a carrier-level breakout of the rate hikes, also didn't say anything about California's small group market.
Biden-Harris Administration Launches Window-Shopping for Affordable and Accessible Health Care Marketplace
Ahead of 10th Open Enrollment period, Biden-Harris Administration announces high levels of health plan affordability, quality, and choice, and a record number of outreach efforts to connect Americans to coverage
The Biden-Harris Administration has made expanding access to health insurance and lowering health care costs for America’s families a top priority, and, starting today, consumers can preview their health care coverage options and see the savings available to them in the most competitive Marketplace in history. Consumers can now visit HealthCare.gov to view detailed information about 2023 health insurance plans and prices offered in their area in advance of the 2023 Marketplace Open Enrollment period that begins November 1, 2022.
The small group market rates are unchanged; the requested premium changes, which have an unweighted average hike of 7.2%, were approved as is. On the individual market, there were some slight reductions from requested rates for BCBS of KC, Sunflower/Ambetter, Medica, Oscar and US Health & Life. As a result, the semi-weighted average increase will be about a point lower (+7.2% vs. +8.3%).
I say semi-weighted because I only have the actual enrollment data for some of the carriers; for the others, I assumed equal enrollment for each of the remaining carriers based on the total statewide individual market size. I may be off on this, but it shouldn't move the needle too much if I am.
Also worth noting: UnitedHealthcare is joining the Kansas individual market for 2023.
The Reinsurance Program, Colorado Option and federal assistance will save people money on health care.
DENVER - The Colorado Division of Insurance (DOI), part of the Department of Regulatory Agencies, has released the approved health insurance plans and premium information for 2023 for individual plans (for people who don’t get their insurance from an employer) and small group plans (for small employers with 2- 100 employees).
Because of the innovative programs the Polis-Primavera administration – in partnership with the legislature – has championed over the last three years, Coloradans can save $326 million statewide on individual health insurance plans for 2023. The Reinsurance Program, the Colorado Option and the DOI’s rate review process are driving substantial savings for the 2023 plan year.
The South Carolina Insurance Dept. has posted their final/approved 2023 rate filings for both the Individual and Small Group markets. Unlike the preliminary filings, which they didn't make easily available, the final filings are pretty clear cut. They don't include the enrollment data for each carrier, but most of that is available via the the federal Rate Review website and/or SERFF databases for the indy market. For the small group market, I was only able to find the number of policyholders, not actual enrollees, although that should still give a fairly close approximation to the relative market share.
On the individual market, average rates are going up around 7.3%, which is down a solid amount from the originally-requested average rate hike of 10.4%. The biggest news on SC's indy market is that Bright Health is dropping out (as they are everywhere else as well), while Cigna and Select Health are joining the ACA exchange.
On the small group market it doesn't look like there are any changes to who's participating. The average rate increase is 4.6%, which is actually down a bit from the 5.5% requested average (mostly due to Blue Cross/Blue Choice having their increases shaved down).
