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Georgia may pull off the biggest state sabotage of the ACA marketplaces to date. This is a big deal and very worrisome. Pay attention. (thread) https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/tens-of-thousands-could-lose-coverage-under-georgias-1332-waiver-proposal
GA has asked for federal permission to withdraw from http://HealthCare.gov w/o creating its own marketplace to give ppl a central place to enroll. Making it harder to enroll = lower enrollment. Tens of thousands of Georgians could lose coverage.
1332 waivers are meant for state innovation. Complicating enrollment for 400,000 Georgians is not innovative. It’s a disaster. And not legal. https://www.brookings.edu/research/georgias-latest-1332-proposal-continues-to-violate-the-aca/
This returns to the pre-ACA way of enrolling only thru brokers & insurers, who often push the highest-profit plans, not always the best or all plans. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uiL3Bi9XV0mYnxpyaIMeg_Q-BJaURXX3/view
No way for side-by-side plan comparison; instead hop between brokers & insurers and cross your fingers that you’ll get full and accurate information. http://chirblog.org/comparing-short-term-health-plans-is-practically-impossible/
More ppl could be pushed into plans with minimal coverage, like high-profit short-term plans, instead of full coverage. In fact, it’s encouraged. https://khn.org/news/ads-for-short-term-plans-lacking-aca-protections-swamped-consumers-online-searches/
Need help enrolling in Medicaid? Good luck. Of 1,100 brokers in Atlanta, *zero* say they handle Medicaid enrollment. It doesn’t pay. And web-brokers often won't help either. https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/direct-enrollment-in-marketplace-coverage-lacks-protections-for-consumers-exposes
For sure, there are some good-guy brokers, but how does a consumer distinguish? There’s no substitute for an impartial platform that allows people to see all plan options.
Tens of thousands could lose coverage, esp w/ GA allocating minimal funds for a huge IT lift and turning over all marketing and enrollment functions to private entities.
GA continues to refuse Medicaid expansion coverage to ~500k ppl & is trying to end the ACA in court; its waiver is another way of rejecting the law, not innovating w/in it. And CMS seems to be fast-tracking this. Comments are due 9/16 at StateInnovationWaivers@cms.hhs.gov.
