A few weeks ago, using ACA marketplace enrollment data available for Maryland, I calculated that about 20% of Maryland marketplace enrollees would lose valuable discounts in gold and bronze plans if federal reimbursement to insurers for Cost Sharing Reduction (CSR) subsidies were restored by Congress, after being cut off by Trump last fall.
Early this month, CMS published enrollment data for all states, with more detail (as always) for the 39 states using the federal exchange, HealthCare.gov, which account for just under three quarters of all enrollment. And while Congress balked at restoring CSR funding for 2019, CMS administrator Seema Verma is now intimating that CMS may ban "silver loading," the pricing practice that produced this year's discounts in bronze and gold plans. With the full enrollment data for HealthCare.gov, we can now calculate roughly how many people would lose access to the kind of de facto subsidy enhancements that emerged this year.
Early this month, CMS published enrollment data for all states, with more detail (as always) for the 39 states using the federal exchange, HealthCare.gov, which account for just under three quarters of all enrollment. And while Congress balked at restoring CSR funding for 2019, CMS administrator Seema Verma is now intimating that CMS may ban "silver loading," the pricing practice that produced this year's discounts in bronze and gold plans. With the full enrollment data for HealthCare.gov, we can now calculate roughly how many people would lose access to the kind of de facto subsidy enhancements that emerged this year.
