Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Tenn. Exchange Shoppers Should Brace For Sticker Shock; The Effects Of Blue Cross' Withdrawal From Minn. Individual Market
Tennessee marketplace consumers may experience some sticker shock when they try to sign up for health insurance plans during open enrollment this year. Carriers in the state have requested premium rate increases with the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, and the hikes are high. (Tolbert, 7/1)
It was a quiet announcement that landed with a big boom: Blue Cross Blue Shield would be pulling out of Minnesota’s individual insurance market. The news last week sent insurance companies and customers alike scrambling, trying to figure out what the fallout will be from 100,000 Blue Cross customers seeking new coverage. (Montgomery, 7/1)
The Obama administration is making a push to get young adults covered on the health insurance marketplaces, both for their own good and that of the marketplaces, which need healthy people to balance sicker ones in the risk pool. While experts applaud the beefed up outreach planned for the coming months, they point to several factors that may throw a wrench into enrollment plans for young people. (Andrews, 7/5)
Graduate students have long relied on health insurance subsidies awarded as part of financial-aid packages as they try to earn a living and a degree. But the future of that benefit could be jeopardized by the Internal Revenue Service’s interpretation of a provision of the Affordable Care Act that casts the subsidies as an attempt to elude ACA’s employer mandate. Seventeen U.S. senators, including Virginia Sens. Mark R. Warner and Timothy M. Kaine, both Democrats, wrote a letter last month urging the Obama administration to clarify the IRS language and warning that it runs counter to ACA’s primary goal to expand insurance coverage. (Kapsidelis, 7/3)
