CushieBlog

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) released a new health plan rating system, using a 1.0 to 5.0 scale with 5.0 indicating higher performance. This new rating system replaces their previous health plan ranking system. Evaluating more than 1,000 plans, including commercial, Medicaid, and Medicare Part D plans, the new rating system assesses three major performance categories, consumer satisfaction, prevention, and treatment and it provides a simple way for consumers to gauge the quality of care being provided by a health plan. The new plan rating system shows that Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin had the highest percentage of plans receiving a 4.5 or 5.0 rating.

On September 28, 2015, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) announced a five-year model to test approaches to improve Medicare Part D beneficiary medication use. The Part D Enhanced Medication Therapy Management (MTM) Model will test whether changes to the Part D program can help to better align the interests of plan sponsors with those of the federal government. Eligible basic stand-alone prescription drug plans (PDPs), upon approval from CMS, can vary the intensity and types of MTM items and services based on beneficiary risk level and seek out a range of strategies to individualize beneficiary and prescriber outreach and engagement. An initial five-year performance period will begin January 1, 2017 in five Part D regions spanning 11 states: Region 7 (Virginia), Region 11 (Florida), Region 21 (Louisiana), Region 25 (Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming), and Region 28 (Arizona).

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released their latest enrollment numbers for both the federal and state exchanges. As is to be expected, actual enrollment is down slightly from the March report. Almost 9.9 million people had paid their first month’s premium as of June 30, slightly above the projected enrollment of 9.1 million people. Of those paying their premiums, 84%, or 8.3 million, received premium tax credits and 5.5 million people also received cost sharing subsidies. Premium tax credits averaged $270 a month. Approximately 423,000 people had their 2015 coverage terminated for failure to provide the necessary documentation of citizenship or legal immigrant status. More than 6.7 million people enrolled in a silver tiered plan, 2.1 million enrolled in bronze or catastrophic, almost 700,000 selected a gold tier and 332,000 picked platinum. In early September, CMS reported that Medicaid and CHIP enrollment had reached 72 million. The increase in both public and private insurance programs has dropped the national uninsured rate to below 10%.

HHS issued a draft rule providing clarity to the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition on discrimination in insurance coverage on the basis of race, color, age, national origin, sex, and disability. The proposed rule covers consumers’ rights under the ACA, obligations of covered entities, the inclusion of gender identify discrimination as a form of sex discrimination, requirements for effective communication to those with disabilities, and language assistance for those with limited English proficiency. Discriminatory practices in benefit plan design, marketing and cost sharing are prohibited. The proposed regulations apply to health insurers participating in the federal and state-based exchanges, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid programs. These protections are extended to all individual and group products sold by a participating insurer. As drafted, the proposed regulations are a step forward in eliminating discriminatory practices that prevent patients with chronic conditions from accessing necessary medication but opportunities for more specific language in the final regulations remain.