The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of the Treasury today issued new guidance so states can move their insurance markets away from the one-size-fits-all rules and regulations imposed by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and increase choice and competition within their insurance markets.
ACA Open Enrollment begins Nov. 1
The new guidance grants states more flexibility to design alternatives to the ACA and to give Americans more options to get health coverage that better meets their needs. Under this new policy, states will be able to pursue waivers to improve their insurance markets, increase affordable coverage options for their residents, and ensure that people with pre-existing conditions are protected.
These waivers are called State Relief and Empowerment Waivers to reflect this new direction and opportunity.
Today’s guidance marks a new direction that delivers the flexibility the law always intended for states. To begin, the guidance outlines five principles for states to follow as they work to develop innovative new approaches. Moving forward, state waivers should aim to: provide increased access to affordable private market coverage; encourage sustainable spending growth; foster state innovation; support and empower those in need; and promote consumer-driven healthcare.
The new flexibilities available to states include the following:
- Allows states to provide consumers with plan options that best meet their needs, while, at the same time, ensuring people, including those with pre-existing conditions, retain access to the same level of coverage available today without the waiver;
- Continues to require that a comparable number of people have coverage, but expands the definition of coverage to include more types of coverage, such as short-term plans;
- Provides greater flexibility for states to consider improvements in comprehensiveness and affordability for state residents as a whole versus the prior focus on specific populations;
- Supports increased variation and flexibility for states that may want to leverage components of the Federal Exchange platform to implement new models; and
- Provides flexibility for states to meet the state legislative authority requirement. The guidance clarifies that in certain circumstances, existing state legislation that provides statutory authority to enforce ACA provisions and the state plan, combined with a duly-enacted state regulation or executive order, may satisfy the requirement that the state enact a law.