President Trump's signature on H.R. 1, the budget reconciliation bill, will lead to upwards of 17 million people losing their health insurance and millions more with higher barriers to accessing care. At CHIR, we'll be working to minimize the law's harms, document its effects, and partner with those| CHIRblog
In May, we welcomed spring blooms and warm weather, while staying engaged with the latest health policy research. This month we read about potential effects of the reconciliation bill on provider revenue and uncompensated care, Rhode Island’s affordability standards and their effects on hospital pri| CHIRblog
The proposed Marketplace Integrity rule and House-passed budget bill purportedly aim to curb ACA fraud but overlook basic steps to address broker misconduct. CHIR experts explain how these policies increase barriers for eligible enrollees without improving oversight of unethical brokers or implement| CHIRblog
States continue to realize the impact of Medicaid – and incentives to expand. Here's what's happening in states that aren't yet on board.| healthinsurance.org
Like other employer health plans across the commercial insurance market, state employee health plans (SEHPs) regularly face significant increases in health care costs. A new piece by CHIR faculty for Health Affairs explores how SEHPs’ use of provider-based reference pricing to constrain cost growth| CHIRblog
As of the 2025 plan year, there will be 20 fully state-run health insurance marketplaces (SBMs), three state-based marketplaces that use the federal platform (SBM-FP), and 28 fully federally run marketplaces. Three of the SBMs had an SBM-FP model in 2021, but transitioned to their own enrollment platforms as of the 2022 plan year. Virginia joined them in the fall of 2023, and Georgia will also be running its own exchange platform by the fall of 2024. Illinois has enacted legislation to creat...| healthinsurance.org
While the Affordable Care Act's premium subsidies help pay the cost of the health insurance itself, cost-sharing subsidies help to reduce out-of-pocket spending for eligible enrollees when they select Silver plans. The Trump administration eliminated federal funding for cost-sharing reductions, but the benefits are still available to eligible enrollees. And because the cost of cost-sharing reductions has been added to premiums, premium subsidies are much larger than they were prior to 2018.| healthinsurance.org
All plans (whether Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum) must cover the same essential benefits, including free preventive care; they all provide comprehensive coverage. But plans with the lowest premiums (Bronze, and to a lesser extent, Silver) require you to pay a larger share of your health costs. This means that your co-pays and deductibles will be higher, and your maximum out-of-pocket will generally be higher as well.| healthinsurance.org
Two national health insurers recently discussed their plans to invest in "ICHRAs," tax advantaged accounts that workers use to purchase individual market health insurance. CHIR's Hanan Rakine explores what a greater use of ICHRAs could mean for workers, and for the stability of insurance markets.| CHIRblog