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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 21, 2019
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Jeff Van Ness, (202) 204-7515; jvanness@communityplans.net

ACAP OFFERS PROPOSALS TO SHORE UP INDIVIDUAL HEALTH INSURANCE MARKET

WASHINGTON—The Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP) today released a suite of policy recommendations aimed at improving the individual market risk pool and encouraging competition in health insurance Marketplaces.

“The Affordable Care Act’s greatest success has been its expansion of coverage to people who need it” said ACAP CEO Meg Murray. “The best thing we can do is to build on the success of the Marketplaces and work to provide more affordable, more accessible insurance. While plans can’t control actuarial risk, policymakers can help control policy risk by making the business conditions in the Marketplaces more stable and predictable.”

The policy proposals include: 

• Reinstatement of the successful Federal reinsurance program.
• Adjusting the community rating ratio in Marketplaces from 3:1 to at least 5:1 to more accurately price actuarial risk.
• Limiting STLDI coverage so that it is not renewable over the long term, and serves its intended role as a stopgap.
• Requiring all short-term plans to have an end date of December 31 in a coverage year to coincide with open enrollment in Marketplaces.
• A surcharge for members over the age of 65 who purchase Marketplace coverage.
• Allowing safety net health plan issuers, as defined in 26 CFR 57.2 (b)(iii)(E), to enter the individual market while limiting their exposure through an enrollment cap based on risk-based capital.
• Providing for a rebate for young consumers that choose to enroll and rarely—but appropriately—use the health care system.
• Streamlining enrollment by implementing a semi-automatic enrollment approach to coverage that allows consumers to initiate the enrollment coverage through Medicaid, CHIP, or Marketplaces.

“These proposals are practical, non-partisan proposals that will make a real difference, stimulate competition and encourage more plans to enter the market, resulting in better consumer choice,” added Murray. “We’re ready to discuss these ideas in a constructive way with anyone in the Administration or on the Hill.”

For more, visit www.communityplans.net.

About ACAP
ACAP represents 66 not-for-profit Safety Net Health Plans in 29 states, which collectively serve more than 20 million people enrolled in Medicaid, Medicare, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and other public health programs. For more information, visit www.communityplans.net.