HAWAII INSURANCE DIVISION: Hawaii Joins Multistate Group Providing ACA Policy Recommendations to President-elect

Business
P

Hawaii Insurance Division issued the following announcement on Dec. 23.

Hawaii Insurance Commissioner Colin Hayashida joined a group of the  nation’s state insurance commissioners in a pledge to work with  President-elect Joe Biden by providing health policy recommendations to  the incoming administration.

The commissioners share President-elect Biden’s vision that no  American should have to go without health care coverage. They believe  comprehensive and progressive health care is essential to addressing  urgent public health priorities, such as the COVID-19 and opioid crises,  addressing racial disparities in the health care system, and ensuring  enforcement of mental health parity.

A letter sent by the group of commissioners detailed six immediate or  critical policy recommendations and six longer-term recommendations for  the Biden administration to consider.

Immediate policy recommendations 

  • Ensure immediate access to the federal marketplace, gov, through a special enrollment period.
  • Provide immediate relief from Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidy clawbacks created by COVID-19 uncertainty.
  • Provide clarity on COVID-19 testing coverage requirements,  especially in regard to tests that are ordered as part of state-based  contact tracing efforts.
  • Partner with states in actively focusing on programs and practices  that address the needs of historically marginalized communities.
  • Address problematic elements of the recently proposed Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters (NBPP) for Plan Year 2022.
  • Allow flexibility for states aiming to pursue progressive policy  aims by empowering them to apply for ACA innovation waivers beyond  reinsurance.
Longer-term policy priorities

  • Reverse policies, such as the weakening of non-discrimination  protections and the public charge rule, that undermine the ACA and deny  health care coverage to many people.
  • Encourage both people and small businesses to enroll in ACA  programs, and stop encouraging enrollment in insurance plans that do not  provide the ACA’s most critical consumer protections.
  • Improve income counting rules to allow consumers greater flexibility.
  • Extend premium tax credits to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals  (DACA) recipients so that legally present noncitizens have access to  health care coverage.
  • Modernize Department of Labor oversight of the Employee Retirement  Income Security Act to ensure all health insurance coverage is held to  similar standards.
  • Consider a national reinsurance program to stabilize health  insurance markets and improve affordability of health insurance  coverage.
Enacting these policy recommendations will provide immediate relief  to many Americans affected by the COVID-19 crisis, provide states with  flexibility to strengthen health insurance markets, remove  discriminatory barriers to health coverage, protect the coverage needs  of Americans with pre-existing conditions, and ensure comprehensive  health insurance access is available to all Americans.

Commissioner Hayashida and the following state insurance  commissioners developed these recommendations and are committed to  working with the Biden administration on its national health care plan:

Commissioner Ricardo Lara, California

Commissioner Michael Conway, Colorado

Commissioner Trinidad Navarro, Delaware

Director Anita G. Fox, Michigan

Temporary Commissioner Grace Arnold, Minnesota

Commissioner Andrew R. Stolfi, Oregon

Commissioner Jessica K. Altman, Pennsylvania

Health Insurance Commissioner Marie Ganim, Rhode Island

Commissioner Mike Kreidler, Washington

Commissioner Mark Afable, Wisconsin

# # #

The Hawaii Insurance Division regulates the Hawaii insurance  industry, issues licenses; examines the fiscal condition of Hawaii-based  companies; reviews rate and policy filings; and investigates insurance  related complaints.

Original source can be found here.