Dive Brief:
- The Obama administration says it will start rating health plans sold on the ACA exchanges based on how many hospitals and doctors they have in their networks in response to consumers' complaints, according to new rules to be published Tuesday in the Federal Register, The New York Times reports.
- Insurers will still be allowed to sell plans with narrow provider networks yet the administration will indicate how the breadth of each plan on HealthCare.gov compares with others in the same area with an attached label.
- Maximum out-of-pocket costs will also increase to $7,150 for individuals and $14,300 for families.
Dive Insight:
In addition to new ratings for health plans, insurers will be required to allow patients in "an active course of treatment" to continue to seeing their doctors for 90 days, and consumers will have the ability of getting year-round help from insurance counselors, otherwise known as navigators, who will teach people how to use insurance under the new rules, according to The New York Times.
In setting the new celiing on out-of pocket costs, the administration had used a formula laid out in the Affordable Care Act, HHS spokesman Ben Wakana told the Times.