Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Community Health Options to Continue Participation in ACA Marketplace
A report issued on May 23 by the Congressional Budget Office estimates that Congress's repeal of the ACA individual mandate penalty as part of the tax reform law will cause individual policy premiums to increase by an average of about 10 percent nationwide. Other studies have estimated that the Trump administration's plan to allow short-term, limited-covered health insurance policies to be used as a replacement for ACA insurance in 2019 will cause individual premiums to increase by another 6 percent for the average 40 year old in Maine.
Approximately 76,000 Mainers had individual coverage in the first quarter of this year, compared with 85,000 a year earlier, according to Maine Bureau of Insurance data. In addition, another 60,000 Mainers had ACA-compliant coverage through their employers in the small group market, also representing a reduction of 8 percent from the previous year.
The two plans have until June 4 to submit their 2019 rate requests to the Bureau.
The federal Department of Health and Human Services recently issued rules for the 2019 Health Insurance Market Place as well as the 2019 Letter for issuers on the federally facilitated exchange. Changes include providing states with more flexibility to alter the essential health benefits provided for in the ACA, modifying the availability of special enrollment periods and expanding the types of entities that may be navigators.
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