PROPOSED RULES FOR 2018 MARKETPLACE RELEASED
Last Friday, CMS announced its proposed rules for the 2018 Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters (NBPP). The NBPP sets the rules for how the Marketplaces will operate, and they directly affect Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) which will be offered in 2018 (or Open Enrollment Year 5 – OE5). To read our news item which includes links to the CMS announcement, a fact sheet summary, a CMS blog entry and the actual proposed rules, click here. For a very thorough analysis of the new rules, you can also check out the two Health Affairs blog posts written by Timothy Jost this week. His first blog post can be found here and his second blog post can be found here. Note: the first blog post is focused much more on the way the new rules affect the insurance market’s business side, such as risk adjustment, so the second post will be of more interest to those doing enrollment work as it addresses how QHPs will be affected.
As we approach OE4 in just under two months, understanding who makes up the remaining uninsured is critical to developing a successful outreach strategy. The Commonwealth Fund recently released a new issue brief which examines who these remaining uninsured are. To learn more about the brief including some of the key findings or to download a copy, check out our news item by clicking here. For those of you in California, the Kaiser Family Foundation has a new study that focuses on the same questions for the uninsured California population. To read that study, click here.
The American Association on Health & Disability (AAHD) has joined a letter from the Center for Medicare Advocacy related to durable medical equipment (DME) and its coverage for those who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. The coverage for DME by Medicare, Medicaid or a Qualified Health Plan can be difficult to access and when individuals are dually eligible, the coordination of the coverage can be particularly problematic. The letter which AAHD joined was sent to CMS and advocates for a more streamlined approach and elimination of barriers that exist when individuals have coverage from two sources. To read the letter, click here.
There’s been a lot in the news of late regarding insurers leaving the ACA marketplaces. To understand what this means for the larger marketplace, the Kaiser Family Foundation has done an analysis with some preliminary data on what it all means for the Marketplaces regarding how many insurers will be available to consumers. To read this issue brief, click here.
The scrutiny for Special Enrollment Periods (SEPs) has increased lately. Earlier this year, CMS tightened the rules around eligibility for SEPs and instituted a new confirmation process for SEPs. To read our prior news item on the new confirmation process, click here. The National Health Law Program (NHeLP) released a fact sheet this week that specifically looks at what California has done around the verification process for SEPs. To download a copy of this fact sheet, click here. The fact sheet is also available on the California page on our website under “State Specific Resources.”
In case you missed it, this summer we released four videos which highlight the benefits that Medicaid has had for real individuals. NDNRC Medicaid story videos are part of an effort to increase outreach for Medicaid enrollment. To view the videos we posted from four families who have benefited from Medicaid coverage, check out the videos from Marty, Cyndi, Sally and Carol. These four videos are also available on our YouTube channel which can be found here.
The University of Washington, Healthy Aging & Physical Disability, Rehabilitation Research Training Center (RRTC) has released a new fact sheet on Employment Concerns for People with Disabilities. To read the fact sheet or to learn more about the RRTC and their research summaries and fact sheets click here.
Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Eligibility Determinations and Enrollment Report from June 2016. To read the report from CMS, click here. This report can also be found on our Resources & Links page under “Enrollment Statistics.” If you are looking for prior Medicaid enrollment reports from CMS, we have a webpage that has all the Medicaid enrollment reports archived from January 2014 when Medicaid expansion began. Those reports are archived here.
Are you looking for local partners to help with outreach to the disability community? The NDNRC is funding eighteen Community Outreach Collaboratives (COCs) for the third year of our project. This includes the eleven that were funded last year, plus seven new locations in six new states. The COCs increase collaborations in the community, dissemination and outreach efforts and enrollment of people with disabilities in the ACA. To find a COC, click here.
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