January 1st will mark the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) third health insurance expansion year. Under the ACA individuals with income below 400% of poverty are eligible for insurance subsidies and individuals with incomes below 138% of the federal poverty level are eligible for state Medicaid coverage (or in the 31 states that have to date chosen to expand Medicaid coverage). As of 2015 the ACA has expanded coverage to approximately 12 million Americans. Medicaid expansion has added another 14 million lives. Despite significant gains in the number of insured approximately 25 million non-elderly adults or about 11% remain without coverage. Roughly half of these are undocumented immigrants whom are ineligible for coverage under the ACA. Despite subsidies the cost of insurance remains the reason individuals go without coverage that frequently results in individuals going without needed care.
During this 24 minute conversation, Ms. Corlette discusses expected 2016 enrollment numbers, premium prices, the impact pharmaceutical cost growth has had on premium costs, to what extent individuals comparative shop for plans, the number of and reasons for the un-enrolled, insurer participation and the issue of risk corridor funding (recently a presidential campaign issue).
Sabrina Corlette is a Senior Research Fellow and Project Director at the Center on Health Insurance Reforms (CHIR) at Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute. Prior to joining the Georgetown faculty, Ms. Corlette was Director of Health Policy Programs at the National Partnership for Women and Families. From 1997 to 2001, Ms. Corlette worked as a professional staff member for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. After leaving the Hill Ms. Corlette also served as an attorney at Hogan Lovells. She received her JD with high honors from the University of Texas and earned her undergrad degree also with honors from Harvard.
For more on CHIR go to: http://chir.georgetown.edu/.
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