PROPOSED RULES WOULD LIMIT SHORT-TERM PLANS
Throughout the summer, we are publishing the NDNRC Update on a biweekly basis.
Last Friday, the Biden Administration announced proposed rules which would redefine short-term, limited duration health insurance plans. The proposed rules would change the way that short-term plans would be able to be sold to consumers. To learn more about these rules or for links to the rules and CMS fact sheet, check out our news item.
If you want to learn more about these proposed rules, you can also check out the blog post from Health Affairs. You can also read the latest blog post from Families USA with their commentary on the new rules.
The Kaiser Family Foundation continues to update their Medicaid Enrollment and Unwinding Tracker with the latest figures and data on monthly Medicaid enrollment, renewals, and disenrollments. As of July 13, 2023, over 2 million Medicaid enrollees have lost coverage. All but one state are now in the process of disenrolling people as part of the unwinding. State-level data is available for 30 states + DC. Disenrollment rates range from a high of 76% (Idaho) to 10% (Michigan).
AAHD is part of the CCD LTSS and Health Task Forces. Recently, these two task forces wrote a letter to the HHS Office of Civil Rights on the concern of the number of people with disabilities losing coverage during the Medicaid unwinding. This letter can be found in our AAHD policy update.
As part of our partnership with Community Catalyst, we have a project which highlights opportunities for people with disabilities to get access to health coverage through Medicaid or the ACA marketplace. As part of this project, they have graphics like the one below which highlight the changing Medicaid rules. These are available in the Community Catalyst Outreach Hub and on the Organizing for Outreach materials page.
Millions of individuals have lost coverage during the Medicaid Unwinding, with 71% terminated for procedural reasons. According to Georgetown University’s Center for Children & Families, many terminations could be avoided by ensuring enrollees are aware of their renewal dates and in turn will contact their Medicaid agency when they have not received their renewal or a notice by that date.
As states evaluate Medicaid plans, they must also reconsider what types of flexibility will be sustained in the long-term. The National Academy for State Health Policy conducted a 50-state survey examining which flexibilities states planned to sustain in at least one of the aging/physical disability waivers. A majority of states will continue with support of payment to family or professional caregivers.
Unwinding the Medicaid continuous coverage requirement has begun in many states, and people have started losing their Medicaid eligibility. Over the last couple months we have been updating our “Medicaid Unwinding Resources” blog post which has links to various resources including our Medicaid unwinding flyer and the Kaiser Tracker referenced above.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has announced two webinars that they will be conducting this summer to help assisters in preparing for the fall open enrollment and what assisters can do with plan selection tools. The first of these webinars entitled “Introduction to Plan Selection Tools for 2024” will be held this Tuesday, July 18 at 2:00 PM ET. All the topics, dates and times for both webinars can be found in our news item.
The Georgetown Center on Health Insurance Reforms has a new blog post which looks at employer-based coverage and what could be done to improve transparency of pricing.
State employee health plans are expected to increase in cost and will be subject to new federal requirements for transparency on health care transactions and protections from unexpected out-of-network billing, as reported by Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms. SEHP administrators will need to create strategies to reduce provider price inflation and decrease stakeholder pushback.
A new blog post from Health Affairs highlights the importance of improving the experience for people with disabilities who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. Written by two people with disabilities, the blog post explains the challenges that dual eligibles face and advocates for having a more integrated system between the two payers.
Archives of our weekly updates are available on the NDNRC website.