Dive Brief:
- There are still three weeks left in the Affordable Care Act's current enrollment period, but already issuers are working to determine their 2016 plans and rates due to a federal proposal that future enrollment periods run from Oct. 1 to Dec. 15.
- The adjusted enrollment period would help uninsured consumers avoid tax penalties because those who sign up by Dec. 15 in a given year year would then be covered for the entire next year. Insurers and state regulators, however, now face abbreviated deadlines to submit and review plans and rates, respectively.
- Numerous industry officials are voicing their concerns, and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners has written a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Dive Insight:
While the proposed new enrollment period may be more ideal for consumers in theory, it won't do the marketplace any good to force insurers to take their attention away from completing this year's enrollment in order to develop plans for the next round with severely limited 2015 data.
In addition, the compressed schedule would create a significant disadvantage to insurers who are new to the market this year. As Sean Caron of Minuteman Health told the Associated Press, "We have no data to go off of, other than what we have seen in those first couple of months."
New Hampshire Insurance Commissioner Roger Sevigny suggests the abbreviated timeframes could even deter some companies from offering plans altogether, which would hinder the ACA's efforts toward creating competition.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reports that it is reviewing all submitted comments on the proposal.