NBPP

Last Thanksgiving, regular readers may recall that I went on a bit of a rant regarding the annual Notice of Benefit & Payments Parameters, which is a yearly collection of administrative tweaks made by the CMS Administator regarding the specific way in which a slew of ACA policies are actually implemented.

Out of the dozen or so rule changes included in the 2022 NBPP, several of them were perfectly reasonable; several were fairly nominal or neutral...and several of them should have set off red flags everywhere for the incoming Biden Administration, including:

  • Allowing states to flat-out privatize their ACA marketplaces
  • Pushing navigators and assisters to use private, 3rd-party direct enrollment brokers
  • Codifying the Trump Administration's warped interpretation of ACA Section 1332 waivers

There's also a couple of rules in the 2022 NBPP which I opposed, but which won't cause too much damage (at least relative to the three above):

Regular readers (and some non-regular readers) may recall that in the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve, I put out an urgent "call to action" request for people to submit Public Comment on the proposed annual Notice of Benefit & Payment Parameters for 2022 (NBPP) rule.

As I explained, every year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) puts together a bunch of proposed modifications to the implementation details of the ACA. Some are simple clarifications of existing procedures; some are minor tweaks; and some are major changes. Of the major changes, some are positive...and some are negative. In the case of the 2022 NBPP, there are examples of all three...and the major changes are really major. As in, ranging from harmful to likely flat-out illegal.

For 2022, there were several NBPP items which seem either innocuous or are actually good ideas...but there are a couple of pretty questionable ones and a few more which would be outright devastating (there are also a few involving things like Risk Adjustment which I'm not familiar enough with to comment on one way or the other).

UPDATE 12/31/20: The deadline to submit public comments has passed. In the end, there are 320 comments, 243 of which were submitted after I posted this entry. The wording on a random check of some finds that at least a couple dozen appear to have been guided by my own sample comment below, which I'm glad to see.

Now we'll just have to wait and see. Thank you to everyone who helped out!

Last month, I wrote about the annual Notice of Benefit & Payment Parameters for 2022 (NBPP) from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS). This is a long, wonky document published each year which includes a bunch of proposed modifications to various aspects of how the ACA is administered and implemented.

Some of the proposed changes each year are pretty much mandatory. Some are completely up to whoever is running CMS/HHS at the time. Some are nominal tweaks; some are major changes.

Rancid Turkey

UPDATE: It looks like the 2022 NBPP will be open for Public Comment starting on December 4th and ending on December 30th at 5pm. This is obviously 4 days shorter than the typical 30-day minimum, and it includes Christmas Eve & Christmas Day as well. I've been informed that this is technically legal as allowing a minimum of 30 days is a guideline, not requirement...but it sure wouldn't look good if the rule is brought in front of a judge.

The Affordable Care Act includes a long list of codified instructions about what's required under the law. However, like any major piece of legislation, many of the specific details are left up to the agency responsible for implementing the law.

From January:

via Dave Anderson of Balloon-Juice:

The Notice for Benefit and Payment Parameters (NBPP) is an annual rule that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) puts out. NBPP is the operational rule book for the Affordable Care Act. It determines what types of plans can be offered, how pricing is determined, when do things need to be approved, and whether or not Silver Loading is allowed or a Broad Load is required. This is all big stuff for the ACA markets.

The annual NBPP is supposed to be released sometime in November. Last year it wasn't released until December. This year it's mid-January and still no NBPP, although it's supposedly trudging along slowly

via Amy Lotven of Inside Health Policy two days ago:

Issuers Urge CMS To Offer Guidance On 2020 Exchange Policy As Rule Stalled

Two associations representing health plans tell CMS that with the annual exchange rule stalled at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) due to the government shutdown, the agency should immediately issue informal guidance that the plans need to understand regulatory and operational changes for the 2020 plan year. Issuers will likely be asked to submit applications in May, and it is critical to get guidance as soon as possible for adequate preparation, the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP) and the Alliance for Community Health Plans (ACHP) say in a Jan. 15 letter.

CMS typically released the draft Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters (NBPP) in the early fall and it was generally finalized prior to the new year, although last year the final version was delayed until spring, which also frustrated plans. This year, the proposed rule didn’t land at the OMB for review until Nov. 28.

Last month I noted that while Congressional Republicans spent all of 2017 desperately attempting to "blow up" the Affordable Care Act via a combination of legislation, the Trump Administration simultaneously tried to tear down the law via various regulatory sabotage efforts. This year the GOP Congress appears to have mostly given up on their mischief (they did manage to partially wound the ACA by repealing the individual mandate), the Trump Administration is doubling down on regulatory sabotage, laying what I've termed "Regulatory Siege" to the law.

In my mind, "phase one" included the non-legislative stuff Trump did last year, including stuff like cutting off CSR reimbursements, slashing the Open Enrollment Period in half, slashing marketing funding by 90%, slashing the outreach budget by 40% and so on. "Phase two" includes the previously-announced #ShortAssPlans executive order, CMS allowing work requirements for Medicaid and so forth (individual mandate repeal belongs here as well, although that was legislative, not regulatory...although there's overlap as you'll see below).

Yesterday brought Phase Three.

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