In a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) requested that CMS quickly permit transitional health plans for Calendar Year (CY) 2023 to provide Iowans predictability and stability in their health care.
“Over 65,000 hard-working Iowa farmers, small business owners, and their families currently access high-quality and affordable health insurance through transitional health plans. CMS has permitted these plans for approximately a decade. We request that CMS quickly permit transitional health plans to be sold in CY 2023 to provide Iowans predictability and stability in their health care,” the senators wrote.
Transitional health plans refer to insurance coverage that was purchased after Obamacare became law in 2010 but before it was formally implemented in 2013. These high-quality plans, which cover more than 1 million Americans, offer additional choice in the health insurance marketplace, and they protect patients with pre-existing conditions. The administration must extend these plans each year so that these plans don’t expire. Both the Obama and the Trump administrations routinely extended transitional health plans, but CMS has not committed to maintaining this bipartisan policy for 2023 or further into the future.
“To maintain the promise of ‘if you like the plan you have, you can keep it,’ the Obama administration issued guidance allowing state insurance regulators to permit transitional health plans to be sold to existing customers. The Trump administration continued this policy. Transitional health plans are required to protect from discrimination of an individual’s health status and pre-existing conditions,” the senators continued.
Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen said, “Since 2013, federal authorities have provided state flexibility permitting transitional policies to continue. Transitional plans provide access to healthcare coverage that is likely otherwise unaffordable. Year after year, Iowans have the opportunity to enroll in Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans but many choose to stay in transitional plans to avoid the very high ACA rates, especially those in the individual market.”
Senator Grassley has previously advocated for access to transitional health plans, including in a 2017 letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price, during a Finance Committee hearing with HHS Secretary Alex Azar, and in questions for-the-record for CMS Administrator Brooks-LaSure.
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