Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
ACA Sign-Ups Finally Catch Up To Last Year's Pace, But Where Thanksgiving Fell In Season Expected To Play A Role
Politico Pro: Obamacare Signups On Pace With Last Year, But Likely To Fall Again
Nearly 2.4 million people have signed up for Obamacare coverage through the first three weeks of open enrollment, about the same as last year's pace — but the numbers are likely to dip again next week. More than 703,000 people enrolled in 2020 coverage through HealthCare.gov during the third full week of open enrollment, CMS said this afternoon. (Goldberg, 11/27)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Obamacare Sign-Ups Running Ahead Of Last Year's Pace In Georgia
The pace of Obamacare enrollment this year is up 9% so far in Georgia, a turnaround from declines since the beginning of the Trump administration. Nationwide, the pace of enrollment is up 2%. The open enrollment period still has a couple of weeks to go, and the numbers don’t mean a lot until the final tally is in. (Hart, 11/29)
St. Louis Public Radio: Experts Warn Of Rising Health Costs In Missouri Despite Lower ACA Premiums
Missourians shopping for health insurance on the federal government’s online marketplace are likely to see slightly lower premium prices, but health economists warn residents could still pay more for their health care next year. Deductibles, the prices customers pay out-of-pocket before insurance startas to cover bills, are increasing by $100-$200 a year on average, according to an analysis by the Missouri Foundation for Health. Some consumers have deductibles of more than $6,000. (Fentem, 12/2)
In other insurance news —
Houston Chronicle: A Doctor’s Scribbled Note Leads To Patient Losing Health Insurance
After Mark Liebergot’s heart attack in May, a surgeon inserted three stents in the right side of his heart to ease the blockage but warned him he would soon need a coronary bypass to unblock the left side. He was rattled, but took comfort knowing he had insurance after going without for years. Then, on Sept. 20, six days before his second heart surgery, he got a letter from his insurer, Pivot Choice, a short-term health plan, saying he had been dropped. Not only was parent company, Companion Life Insurance Company, rescinding coverage for his scheduled surgery, it was retroactively denying all pending claims, including the roughly $200,000 in initial billed charges that remained unpaid from his May surgery. (Deam, 11/27)
Houston Chronicle: Risky Business: Buying Health Insurance In The New Age Of Deregulation
The goal is to deliver on an administration promise of lower premiums and greater choice. The trade-off, though, is a return to a past when polices came with restrictions and exemptions tucked inside, limiting coverage for pre-existing conditions, prescription drugs, hospitalization and preventative care. While the full impact of dismantling prior rules is unknown, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid predicted the number of people buying just one type of newly deregulated plans will rise from 86,000 last year to 1.6 million by 2022. Regulators and consumer advocates worry that unsuspecting buyers could be vulnerable to staggering medical bills because the coverage they were sold is insufficient. (Deam, 11/27)
Modern Healthcare: Blue Cross Of Idaho Unveils Souped-Up Short-Term Health Plans
Blue Cross of Idaho will soon begin selling a beefed-up version of a short-term health plan that the company promises will offer comprehensive benefits to thousands of middle-class Idahoans who can't afford Affordable Care Act plan premiums. But because the plans still skirt some popular ACA consumer protections, critics say they're only likely benefit healthy individuals at the expense of those who buy coverage through the exchanges. (Livingston, 12/27)
North Carolina Health News: Insurance Takes Larger Share Of NC Incomes
North Carolinians spend a greater share of their money on health care costs than the national average. A new report shows that in 2018, North Carolinians paid almost 14 percent of the state’s median income on employer-sponsored health plan premiums and deductibles, up from around 11 percent in 2008. For comparison, in 2008, the average American spent just under 8 percent of median income on premiums and deductibles. By 2018, that rose to 11.5 percent. (Duong, 12/2)
Boston Globe: A United Tufts-Harvard Pilgrim Is Better For Consumers, CEOs Say
In the latest move in the ever-consolidating health care industry, two of Massachusetts’ largest insurers have begun making the pitch for why they, too, should merge. The chief executives of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan told the Globe they must combine in order to provide more-affordable coverage to more people across New England, and to better compete against giant national insurers. (Dayal McCluskey, 12/1)
