CMS finalizes policies aimed at stabilizing Health Insurance Marketplaces

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today issued a final rule designed to help stabilize the Health Insurance Marketplaces. The rule finalizes changes related to special enrollment periods; guaranteed issue; actuarial value; network adequacy; and open enrollment periods. The new policies are intended to reduce the administrative burden on plans, reduce adverse selection to improve the risk pools, and facilitate consistency in plan structure and pricing from one year to the next. “The AHA is committed to ensuring that all Americans have affordable coverage, and we commend the Administration today for finalizing several policies that will help keep the marketplaces as a source of coverage for millions of Americans,” said AHA Executive Vice President Tom Nickels. “At a more fundamental level, we remain deeply concerned that the most critical challenge facing the marketplaces today is unresolved: assurance that funding for cost-sharing reductions will be available to insurers. We recently communicated this concern to the administration and Congress and urge them to work together to ensure such funding is available.” AHA members will receive a Special Bulletin with further details.