Colorado Health Insurance Insider

No-cost broker assistance.

You are here: Home / Archives for Louise Norris

About Louise Norris

Louise Norris has been writing about health insurance and healthcare reform since 2006. In addition to the Colorado Health Insurance Insider, she also writes for healthinsurance.org, medicareresources.org, Verywell, Spark by ADP, and Boost by ADP, and Gusto. Follow on twitter and facebook.

Proposed rate increases in Colorado: CO-OP up 21%, Kaiser up 2%

By

The back-story Last September, when we wrote about the fact that the average individual rates increase in Colorado was less than one percent for 2015, we noted that the overall rate increase was astoundingly low – far lower than anything we’d seen during our time in this industry. And although it will be several more weeks… Read more about Proposed rate increases in Colorado: CO-OP up 21%, Kaiser up 2%

Health wonk reading for the Memorial Day weekend

By

Julie Ferguson did an outstanding job with this week’s Health Wonk Review, and it’s full of great articles from our favorite health wonks. A must-read is Charles Gaba’s excellent run-down on what you need to know about rate increase filings.  Gaba’s is the wizard behind ACAsignups.net, and he does an outstanding job of crunching up… Read more about Health wonk reading for the Memorial Day weekend

The Luis Lang story – an update and my own thoughts

By

Last week, Ann Doss Helms wrote an article for the Charlotte Observer about Luis Lang, a SC man with diabetes who will go blind if he doesn’t get eye surgery in the near future.  In a nutshell, Luis Lang is a Republican who opted to ignore the ACA’s individual mandate in 2014, and he also… Read more about The Luis Lang story – an update and my own thoughts

Health Wonkery – replacing Obamacare, covering undocumented immigrants, and much more

By

Joe Paduda did an excellent job with the latest edition of the Health Wonk Review over at Managed Care Matters.  My favorite post in the HWR comes from Tim Jost, writing at Health Affairs.  His article, about what would replace the ACA if it were repealed, is an excellent read.  Jost digs deep into the… Read more about Health Wonkery – replacing Obamacare, covering undocumented immigrants, and much more

A new job is not a qualifying event for a SEP

By

Now that open enrollment is over, the only way people can enroll in individual health plans is with a qualifying event.  This applies both on and off the exchange. Outside of open enrollment, individual/family health insurance is only for sale if you’ve got a special enrollment period triggered by a qualifying event. So what constitutes… Read more about A new job is not a qualifying event for a SEP

What if your coverage gap spans two calendar years?

By

Last week, I wrote a post detailing exactly how the ACA’s “short coverage gap” exemption works.  In a nutshell, as long as your gap in coverage is less than three months long and you maintain coverage for the rest of the year, you don’t have to pay a penalty for being without coverage. In that… Read more about What if your coverage gap spans two calendar years?

A dependent child’s income and MAGI for Medicaid/subsidy eligibility

By

For many of our clients, income and subsidy eligibility determination have replaced medical underwriting as a source of confusion when enrolling in a new health insurance policy.  If your income is above 400% of the poverty level (for current enrollments, that’s anything above $46,680 for a single person, and $94,500 for a family of four), it… Read more about A dependent child’s income and MAGI for Medicaid/subsidy eligibility

Short Gap in ACA coverage – IRS Says Three Months is Too Long

By

One of the exemptions from the ACA’s individual mandate penalty is for people who have a short gap in ACA coverage.  According to the IRS regulations (see page 53654), there’s no penalty as long as the “continuous period without minimum essential coverage is less than three full calendar months and is the first short coverage… Read more about Short Gap in ACA coverage – IRS Says Three Months is Too Long

House Approves Medicare SGR Replacement; Senate to Vote in Two Weeks

By

Last week, the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved HR2, the legislation to repeal the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) and eliminate the need for an annual “doc fix”.  The bill also extends the Children’s Health Insurance Program for another two years, and provides $7 billion in funding to support community health centers (this simply keeps community health center… Read more about House Approves Medicare SGR Replacement; Senate to Vote in Two Weeks

Colorado clarifies that grandmothered plans must end by December 31 – is exchange revenue a factor?

By

Last week, Colorado regulators announced that they won’t allow transitional (“grandmothered”) health plans to renew again at the end of this year, and that all non-ACA-compliant plans (unless they’re grandfathered) will end no later than December 31, 2015 and will need to be replaced with ACA-compliant coverage.   Grandfathered Plans Grandfathered plans are those that were… Read more about Colorado clarifies that grandmothered plans must end by December 31 – is exchange revenue a factor?

No Tax Season Special Enrollment Period In Colorado

By

A few weeks ago, the federal government announced that people in the 37 states that use Healthcare.gov would have access to a tax season special enrollment period (SEP) if they were unaware of the ACA’s penalty for being uninsured, and found out about it at the time they filed their taxes – which could be up to… Read more about No Tax Season Special Enrollment Period In Colorado

A Tenth Anniversary Health Wonk Review at Health Business Blog

By

Health Business Blog was one of the sites we used to read even before we started our own blog in 2006 – and we’ve been reading it ever since.  It’s turning ten this weekend (where does the time go?!) and to celebrate, David hosted the Health Wonk Review this week.   There are lots of great… Read more about A Tenth Anniversary Health Wonk Review at Health Business Blog

Gaming Obamacare isn’t as easy as it sounds

By

Yesterday, The Federalist published an article titled Five Easy Ways To Game Obamacare.  It’s an interesting article, but we thought it might be helpful to add detail about some of the problems with the strategies mentioned. Gaming Obamacare may turn out to be more costly and difficult than you imagine. Buy nine, get three free The idea here is that… Read more about Gaming Obamacare isn’t as easy as it sounds

Create a special enrollment period for those who file taxes after February 15 and owe a penalty

By

Open enrollment ended yesterday, but there are widespread extensions in most exchanges through the end of this week or even the end of the month in some states.  Connect for Health Colorado shared a tweet and facebook update Sunday evening, clarifying that for anyone who had begun the enrollment process but didn’t have it finished by… Read more about Create a special enrollment period for those who file taxes after February 15 and owe a penalty

Take heart – there’s plenty of good stuff in this HWR

By

Peggy Salvatore hosted the Valentine’s Day edition of the Health Wonk Review, and you don’t want to miss it.  Here are some of my favorites in this week’s HWR: Writing at Health Affairs, Ron Pollack from Families USA demonstrates the ways that the context of the ACA clearly makes subsidies available in every state.  SCOTUS is… Read more about Take heart – there’s plenty of good stuff in this HWR

Out-of-network care, emergencies, and balance billing

By

A couple years ago, I wrote a post about balance billing from out-of-network providers in emergency situations.  Then a few days ago, we got an email from a reader who wondered if anything had changed since then, as her husband had been in a car accident and the emergency department physician was out-of-network, despite the ED… Read more about Out-of-network care, emergencies, and balance billing

Cost of Obamacare is 20% less than we thought

By

Good news!  The cost of Obamacare is less than we thought.  Yesterday, the CBO released their comprehensive ten-year budget and economic outlook report.  It’s 177 pages, and addresses all aspects of the federal budget and deficit, including Obamacare. Back in 2010, the CBO predicted that the the ACA would cost the federal government $759 billion in… Read more about Cost of Obamacare is 20% less than we thought

Kicking off 2015 with the latest from all the wonks

By

Vince Kuraitis hosted the first Health Wonk Review of 2015 – the “shake the winter blahs” edition – at his eCareManagement Blog, and it’s full of great articles.  Some of my favorites in this edition: Roy Poses, writing about the “miracle” Hepatitis C drugs and reminding us – as always – to focus on evidence…. Read more about Kicking off 2015 with the latest from all the wonks