Health Plan Weekly
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Price Transparency Slowdown May Aid Strategic Response
Delays are hitting some aspects of the federal price transparency agenda — the complex web of laws, rules and regulations targeting insurers, providers and pharmacy stakeholders, among others. But policy experts say it’s not time to sit back and wait.
That’s what a panel of payer- and provider-focused insiders from the Advisory Board recommended during a Dec. 1 webinar covering federal transparency requirements for the health care sector.
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Average ACA Benchmark Premium Drops for Fourth Year in a Row
Average premiums for the Affordable Care Act Marketplace benchmark silver plan fell 3.1% across the country in 2022, although the changes varied by location and type of plan, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation county-level analysis. Because the American Rescue Plan Act temporarily increased and expanded subsidies for low- and middle-income individuals and families, tax credits will cover the full premium for the lowest-cost silver plan for a 40-year-old individual earning $20,000 (155% of the federal poverty level) in two-thirds of counties nationwide. The ACA open enrollment period for HealthCare.gov and most state-based marketplaces began Nov. 1 and ends on Jan. 15.
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MCO Stock Performance, November 2021
A look at how major publicly traded insurers’ stock performed in November 2021.
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News Briefs: AMA, AHA Sue Over Surprise Billing Regulation | Dec. 10, 2021
The American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Hospital Association (AHA), the largest provider trade groups in the country, sued the Biden administration over regulations HHS issued in implementing the No Surprises Act. In a lawsuit filed Dec. 9 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the AMA and AHA request injunctive relief of the latest interim final rule implementing the No Surprises Act. The Biden administration’s most recent rule aimed at implementing the surprise billing ban, which comes into effect on Jan. 1, 2022, has come under fire from provider groups — and members of Congress, many of them physicians — for “plac[ing] a heavy thumb on the scale of an independent dispute-resolution process that would unfairly benefit insurance companies,” in the words of an AMA press release.
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Health Insurers Embrace Vaccine Requirements for Workers
Although the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates are meeting resistance in the federal courts, many health care firms — including insurers — appear to be requiring their employees to get COVID-19 vaccinations anyway.
In a newly released survey from Willis Towers Watson, 47% of health care organizations polled said they had a vaccine requirement in place already, compared to just 18% of employers overall. On the flip side, 15% of health care companies said they were not planning to adopt a vaccine mandate, while 33% of employers overall said the same.
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