Blogging on the latest from the DC Rocket Surgeons©. Effective mid-June, new rules from the folks at CMS go into effect, two of which stand out as (unintentionally?) hilarious.
First, the issue of "Guaranteed Availability;" according to our friends at Cornerstone:
"CMS is changing its interpretation of the guaranteed availability requirement to allow insurers to apply a premium payment to an individual’s past debt owed for coverage from the prior 12 months before applying the payment toward a new enrollment."
This is in response to "anecdotal examples" of folks gaming the system by paying a few months' premiums and then "letting it ride." The upshot was that untold numbers of folks were able to then hop back on board during the next Open Enrollment with zero consequence.
Weird that no one thought of this before....
The second change that caught my eye was changes the bureauweenies are making to "give insurers greater flexibility in creating lower cost plans, in an effort to attract younger and healthier enrollees." They're called "Actuarial Value Requirements," and they're not exactly new to regular readers.
First, the issue of "Guaranteed Availability;" according to our friends at Cornerstone:
"CMS is changing its interpretation of the guaranteed availability requirement to allow insurers to apply a premium payment to an individual’s past debt owed for coverage from the prior 12 months before applying the payment toward a new enrollment."
This is in response to "anecdotal examples" of folks gaming the system by paying a few months' premiums and then "letting it ride." The upshot was that untold numbers of folks were able to then hop back on board during the next Open Enrollment with zero consequence.
Weird that no one thought of this before....
The second change that caught my eye was changes the bureauweenies are making to "give insurers greater flexibility in creating lower cost plans, in an effort to attract younger and healthier enrollees." They're called "Actuarial Value Requirements," and they're not exactly new to regular readers.
Yeah, good luck with that fellas. ProTip: it's not the plans, it's the EHB's and lack of underwriting. Until you can get to truly catastrophic-type plans, you're merely rearranging deck chairs.
But DC's gonna DC.
But DC's gonna DC.
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