Shaheen, Hassan Introduce Bill to Improve New Hampshire’s Health Care Marketplace & Lower Premiums
(Washington DC) – U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) joined Senators Tom Carper (D-DE), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Bill Nelson (D-FL) to introduce the Individual Health Insurance Marketplace Improvement Act to help stabilize the individual health care marketplace and lower premiums. The legislation would provide certainty in the marketplace by creating a permanent reinsurance program for the individual health insurance market, similar to the successful programs used to lower premiums and spur competition in the Medicare Part D program.
This reinsurance program would provide funding to offset larger than expected insurance claims for health insurance companies participating in the state and federal insurance marketplaces, encouraging them to offer more plans in a greater number of markets, improving competition and driving down costs for patients and families. Additionally, the bill would provide $500 million a year from 2018 to 2020 to help states improve outreach and enrollment for the health insurance marketplaces, drawing in new members and educating the public about the need to be insured. This outreach funding prioritizes counties where there are limited insurers left in the marketplace.
"The Affordable Care Act isn't perfect but there's no doubt that it's made New Hampshire healthier,” said Shaheen. “This legislation would inject stability into the individual insurance market through a program included in the original ACA, which sunset in 2016, that helps lower premiums and spur competition. I continue to urge colleagues across the aisle to work with Democrats to improve the Affordable Care Act though legislation like this, not wholesale repeal a law that is working."
“We must work together across party lines to help ease the burden of health care costs that are squeezing far too many hard-working Granite Staters and Americans,” Hassan said. “This common-sense legislation will help lower premiums for middle class Americans and stabilize the individual market, which the Trump Administration has been working to sabotage. I continue to stand ready to work with anyone who is serious about improving upon the Affordable Care Act and lowering health care costs for Granite State families, and this bill is an important first step.”
The Individual Health Insurance Marketplace Improvement Act would:
- Lower premiums, which would also decrease the cost of Advance Premium tax credits,
- Increase competition among insurers,
- Provide funding to states to improve outreach and enrollment in the health insurance marketplaces,
- And provide additional marketplace stability for insurers, providers, and patients.
The reinsurance program would increase stability in the individual health insurance marketplaces by providing federal funding to cover 80 percent of insurance claims between $50,000 and $500,000 from 2018-2020. Starting in 2021, federal funding would cover 80 percent of insurance claims between $100,000 and $500,000.
View full text of the Individual Health Insurance Marketplace Improvement Act, here.
