As All ACA Marketplaces Open, The Effects Of Changes To Insurance Rules Will Come Into Focus
Once again, all eyes are on the federal health law's exchanges to see how major changes instituted by Republicans will affect enrollment. In some areas, California is bucking those trends, as the state has allocated funds for outreach efforts, and short-term plans will not be offered under Covered California.
NPR:
ACA Insurance Sign-Ups For 2019 Are Starting. Here's What To Expect
It's time for consumers who buy their own health insurance to start shopping for policies for next year. Open enrollment for Affordable Care Act coverage starts Thursday across most of the country. But the shopping and buying experience will vary widely, depending on where people live. In California, for example, where political leaders have always been supportive of the Affordable Care Act, legislators have allocated $100 million for outreach. (Kodjak, 10/31)
The Washington Post:
Affordable Care Act Open Enrollment Begins And Will Test Republican Health Policies
During the enrollment season — which lasts six weeks, half as long as it used to be — consumers may buy the health coverage created under the ACA. This is the first enrollment since Congress removed the law’s penalty for people who fail to carry health insurance. With that federal fine scheduled to vanish in January, this year’s marketplaces will furnish evidence for a long-simmering debate: How much of the nation’s gains lately in health coverage have happened because of the law’s insurance mandate, and will coverage tumble without it? (Goldstein, 10/31)
Bloomberg:
Obamacare Markets Stabilize As Premiums Remain High For Many
When insurance customers log onto the Affordable Care Act’s sign-up websites Thursday, they’ll find that health-care coverage prices are high but largely stable, after months of tinkering by the Trump administration. (Tozzi and Dodge, 10/31)
The Wall Street Journal:
Health Law Faces Its Toughest Stress Test Yet
This is also the first open-enrollment period under a Trump-administration change expanding access to cheaper plans that don’t cover the panoply of benefits mandated by the ACA. Those less-expensive plans can also deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. Both of these change could weaken the exchanges where millions of Americans who don’t get insurance from an employer or government program go to obtain coverage. Health analysts say the moves will likely siphon off younger and healthier consumers who are needed to offset the health costs of older, sicker people remaining on the exchanges because they need more robust coverage. (Armour, 11/1)