CMS RELEASES PROPOSED MARKET STABILIZATION RULES
This week, CMS issued proposed rules designed to stabilize the ACA marketplaces. These rules address a wide variety of areas including the length of next year’s open enrollment period, the determination process for eligibility for Special Enrollment Periods (SEPs) and network adequacy rules, to name a few. To learn more about these proposed rules, check out our news item which includes some of the highlights of the rules, as well as links to the CMS press release on the proposed rules and the proposed rules themselves. To view our news item, click here. Comments on the proposed rules are to be submitted to CMS by March 7, 2017. For an in-depth analysis of these proposed rules, you can also check out a blog post on Health Affairs, here.
The American Association on Health and Disability (AAHD) has joined a letter sent by the I Am Essential Coalition which urges new HHS Secretary Tom Price to continue to maintain the consumer protections provided in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as he reviews possible rules changes for the ACA. To read the news release from the I Am Essential Coalition, click here and to read the letter sent to Secretary Price, click here. Many of these protections are also addressed in our NDNRC statement on health reform entitled “Preserve the Protections Provided by the Affordable Care Act.” To read our blog posts on this statement, click here. The full statement can be found on our website, where it is also available in a PDF download, by clicking here.
One of the provisions in the ACA that we highlight in our statement is the requirement that every qualified health plan covers 10 Essential Health Benefits (EHBs). The EHBs are one of the main areas where reform efforts may take place. A blog post this week on Health Affairs entitled “The Future of Essential Health Benefits” looks at the history of the EHBs and what possible reform efforts could do to them. To read this blog post, click here.
Are you looking for a good way to keep track of and compare the various ACA replacement proposals? The Kaiser Family Foundation has a new interactive tool which allows you to compare the ACA and four of the proposed replacement plans. To check out this resource, click here.
Many of the ACA replacement plans also address the Medicaid program and its current financing structure. One of the most common proposals to reform Medicaid is through block granting. The Commonwealth Fund has released a new fact sheet which looks at the Medicaid block grant and how it could eventually affect current Medicaid recipients. To view this fact sheet, click here.
Do you wonder what effect changing or repealing the ACA would have on state laws? A blog post by the Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms looks at some of those effects. To read the blog post, click here. The National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) has also released a series of fact sheets on this same topic. To view these fact sheets, check out our news item here.
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlights some of the findings from the 2016 National Health Interview Survey as it relates to the uninsured rates. To learn more about the CDC report or to download a copy of the report, check out our news item here.
Previously, we highlighted a webinar being conducted by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) on Special Enrollment Periods (SEPs). The slides from that presentation are now available here and a recording of the presentation is available here. CBPP also created a chart on SEPs last summer which is available here. These resources are also available on our Resources & Links page under “Enrollment Resources – Overview.”
The University of Washington Healthy Aging Rehabilitation Research Training Center (RRTC) has released a fact sheet entitled “How to Stay Physically Active.” To download a copy of this fact sheet, click here. The RRTC is a federally funded research and training center, tasked with promoting healthy aging for persons living with a long-term physical disability. The RRTC is funded by National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDLRR), an agency within the Administration on Community Living (ACL). To learn more about the RRTC, check out their Facebook page here.
Are you looking for local partners to help with outreach to the disability community? The NDNRC has Community Outreach Collaboratives (COCs) which work to increase collaborations in the community, dissemination and outreach efforts and enrollment of people with disabilities in the ACA marketplace. To find a COC, click here.
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