HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell met with top state and national health insurance executives yesterday to discuss the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act exchanges ahead of the next open enrollment period, according to a report from The Hill.
Executives at the meeting included WellPoint CEO Joe Swedish, Optima CEO Mike Dudley, Kaiser Permanente CEO Bernard Tyson, and America's Health Insurance Plans President Karen Ignagni, according to the report. The health insurance officials and Secretary Burwell talked about health plan affordability and how to increase enrollment.
The 2015 open enrollment period — which will run from Nov. 15 to Feb. 15 — could potentially be more complicated than last year's due to rising premiums, more participating insurers and a shorter time frame, according to a report from The New York Times. Although officials have worked to address the technical problems that plagued HealthCare.gov and some of the state exchanges last year, Kevin Counihan, former head of Connecticut's exchange and current CEO of the federal marketplace, told the Times that the upcoming open enrollment period (which starts Nov. 15) could "make last year look like the good old days."
The roughly 8 million people who signed up last year will have to renew their coverage, and the Obama administration hopes to get 5 million more to enroll at the same time, according to the report. Although CMS has established an automatic renewal process for current enrollees, many people will likely want to revisit the marketplace to review the options available. Furthermore, from 19 states that have released information, 30 additional insurance carriers have asked to enter the PPACA marketplaces in 2015, offering 1.6 times as many health plans as last year, according to the report. The price of marketplace plans will also increase considerably in some markets. For instance, Florida Blue plans to up its rates by an average of 17.6 percent.