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CMS announces plan to attract more young, healthy adults to insurance marketplace
CMS has released a plan it hopes will help increase enrollment in the health insurance marketplace among younger and healthier adults, including targeted outreach to those who paid the tax penalty last year, and partnerships with groups such as the rideshare company Lyft.
The new plan, set to take effect during the 2017 open enrollment period, is part of an ongoing effort by CMS to strengthen the marketplace risk pool, work with private and state insurers to improve coverage options, and lower costs. According to CMS, the overall uninsured rate has fallen by more than 40%, and the uninsured rate among young adults has fallen by more than half, since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted. However, younger and healthier adults are still more likely than average to remain uninsured.
“Insuring these groups lets them invest in their health, protects them against catastrophic costs from serious illness and helps young adults continue their education,” read a CMS press release announcing the new efforts. “It also contributes to a more balanced marketplace risk pool and lower costs.”
According to CMS, highlights of the new plan include:
- Outreach to the millions of uninsured people who paid the tax penalty or claimed an exemption from the fee for 2015, as young adults are overrepresented in both groups;
- “Near-to-real-time” emails to people who open a marketplace account but don’t start an application, start an application but don’t finish, or select a plan but don’t pay the first premium, following data indicating that young adults are almost as likely to as older consumers to enroll based on an email reminder;
- Better facilitation of young adults’ transition from their parents’ coverage plans to their own when they reach 26, including encouraging insurers to contact such consumers with targeted information about marketplace options, and an additional $32 million in funding for Medicaid and CHIP outreach; and
- Public-private partnerships aimed at engaging young adults, with companies and organizations such as Lyft, which will offer user discount codes for customers to attend open enrollment events where they can receive help signing up for coverage under the ACA, as well as Enroll America, Young Invincible and Out2Enroll, which reach a broad population of community college students, young families and LGBTQ youth.
Additional reading:
https://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Fact-Sheets-and-FAQs/Downloads/FINAL_9010_FAQ_2-29-16.pdf
https://www.cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Fact-sheets/2016-Fact-sheets-items/2016-02-24.html