Dive Brief:
- in a change of policy from previous statements, consumers who couldn't enroll in health plans due to problems with state exchange websites and bought coverage elsewhere can still get federal tax credits and retroactive cost-sharing, CMS announced.
- To qualify, consumers must have submitted an application for coverage through the marketplace during open enrollment, and the health insurance they bought outside government resources must meet certain legal requirements.
- This represents a change in policy for the Obama administration, which had previously said the only place to get taxpayer subsidized insurance under the ACA was through the exchanges.
Dive Insight:
This change in policy represents only one of what will inevitably be lots of tweaks to how the ACA is implemented. CMS, and the Obama administration generally, seem to be realizing gradually what aspects of the ACA are unlikely to work the first time around. Giving consumers who struggled to buy health plans on the state exchanges the right to retroactive cost-sharing and federal tax credits strikes me as the kind of flexibility that will be necessary to accomplish the ACA's broad policy goals.