Best’s News & Research Service - December 23, 2020 04:26 PM (EST)
Eleven State Insurance Commissioners Make ACA Recommendations to President-Elect Biden
OLDWICK, N.J. //BestWire// - A group of 11 state insurance commissioners has pledged in a joint statement to work with President-elect Joe Biden by providing Affordable Care Act policy recommendations to the incoming administration.
The commissioners said they share Biden’s vision that no American should go without health care coverage or have coverage that fails when they need it. Comprehensive and progressive health care is essential to addressing urgent public health priorities, such as the COVID-19 and opioid crises, addressing racial disparities in the health care system and ensuring enforcement of mental health parity, they said.
Creating a public option, removing the cap on ACA financial assistance at 400% of the Federal Poverty Level and benchmarking the premium subsidy to a gold plan rather than silver “would be life changing for many Americans,” it said.
The authors noted the ongoing uncertainty caused by the pending Supreme Court decision on a lawsuit seeking to dismantle the ACA, but said the nation cannot afford to slide backwards on health coverage.
They called for immediate policy changes, including asking for a special ACA enrollment period, providing immediate relief from subsidy clawbacks in 2021 caused by the pandemic, providing clarity on COVID-19 testing coverage requirements and partnering with states focusing on programs that address the needs of historically marginalized communities.
The commissioners also asked for flexibility to apply for ACA innovation waivers beyond reinsurance.
Among their longer-term priorities are reversing policies that undermine the ACA and deny health care coverage to many — such as allowing “skinny” or “junk” plans, improving income rules to allow greater consumer flexibility and extending premium tax credits to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients.
In addition, the commissioners suggested consideration of a national reinsurance program to stabilize health insurance markets and improve affordability.
Commissioners from California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin signed the letter.
An attempt to obtain comment from the president-elect’s staff was not immediately returned.
(By Timothy Darragh, associate editor, BestWeek: Timothy.Darragh@ambest.com)