Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, University of Pittsburgh / 23.09.2019
Eliminating Automatic Insurance Reenrollment Can Increase Number of Uninsured
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Coleman Drake, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management
Affiliate faculty member
Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing
University of Pittsburgh
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Every year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services puts out of notice of proposed changes to the rules governing the Health Insurance Marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act (e.g., healthcare.gov). The most recent notice for 2020 (issued in 2019) considered eliminating automatic reenrollment for Marketplace enrollees.
On the one hand, requiring that enrollees actively select a health plan to stay insured is a good thing because it forces them to consider their options – we know that people make better health plan choices when they consider their choices.
On the other hand, creating an administrative barrier to staying insured could cause some people to become uninsured. Since 3.4 million Marketplace enrollees used automatic enrollment in 2019, eliminating it might cause a spike in the uninsured rate.
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