In response, a couple of weeks later the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a statement about the actions they're taking to resolve the issue,
In response, a couple of weeks later the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a statement about the actions they're taking to resolve the issue.
CMS is committed to protecting consumers in the Marketplace. CMS has received reports of consumers in HealthCare.gov states whose coverage was switched by agents and brokers without their knowledge. In response, CMS is taking swift actions to protect consumers from unauthorized activity by agents and brokers, and to root out bad actors who are violating CMS rules.
It's been a long time since I've reported on any significant cybersecurity problems at any of the ACA exchanges. The last one I can think of off the top of my head was nearly a decade ago, and even that was about how some early flaws had been fixed.
Unauthorized enrollment or plan-switching is emerging as a serious challenge for the ACA, also known as Obamacare. Brokers say the ease with which rogue agents can get into policyholder accounts in the 32 states served by the federal marketplace plays a major role in the problem, according to an investigation by KFF Health News.
Over at KFF (previously the Kaiser Family Foundation), researchers/analysts Jared Ortaliza, Krutika Amin & Cynthia Cox have put together a new analysis of the overall individual (aka non-group) U.S. health insurance market as of early 2023. While ACA exchange-based enrollment is publicly available (for both subsidized & unsubsidized enrollees) and is the primary focus of this website, off-exchange enrollment is always somewhat fuzzier for several reasons:
Obviously a lot has changed since then, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but I presume this is the most recent comprehensive, reliable data they've been able to compile:
The Kaiser Family Foundation has updated their ACA Exchange Subsidy Calculator tool, which lets you plug in your household information and calculate how much you're eligible for in subsidies, as well as telling you things like:
Your percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL)
The full-price benchmark Silver plan
Your net price for the benchmark Silver plan
The net price of theleast-expensive Bronze plan
The maximum you'd have to pay in out-of-pocket costs
It's been updated to reflect the newly-expanded & enhanced subsidies available under the American Rescue Plan for 2021 & 2022. The official ACA exchange websites will have this data available over the next few weeks depending on which state you live in (HealthCare.Gov is supposed to go live on April 1st; Covered California on April 12th; other states will vary):
“The economy, stupid” is a phrase coined by James Carville in 1992. It is usually mistakenly rendered as “It’s the economy, stupid.” Carville was a strategist in Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign against incumbent George H. W. Bush. His phrase was directed at the campaign’s workers and intended as one of three messages for them to focus on. -- Wikipedia
The latest Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll (considered the gold standards when it comes to national polling on healthcare policy issues) is out, and it's findings aren't terribly surprising to anyone who's been paying attention:
Consistent with findings over the past few months, the American public remains divided in their opinion of the health care law; 44 percent say they have a favorable view and 41 percent say they have an unfavorable view. Opinion of the law continues to diverge along party lines, with most Democrats reporting a favorable view of the law (76 percent) and most Republicans reporting an unfavorable view of the law (71 percent). Among independents, 46 percent say they have an unfavorable view, while 39 percent report a favorable view.
