|
|
Academy Activities
On Aug. 5, the Individual and Small Group Market Committee released an issue brief that provides an overview of the factors underlying general premium rate setting and highlights the major drivers behind why 2016 premiums could differ from those in 2015 under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
In July, the Academy’s Medicare Subcommittee published its annual issue brief, Medicare’s Financial Condition: Beyond Actuarial Balance, which offers an actuarial perspective on Medicare’s long-term financial condition in the wake of the 2015 Medicare Trustees Report. The Academy subsequently also updated its Essential Elements paper, Medicare’s Long-Term Sustainability Challenge.
Just in time for the 50th anniversary of Medicare’s enactment on July 30, 1965, the Academy published the first three papers in a new series, Medicare@50, which examines the Medicare program in light of the challenges facing the program to continue serving the needs of an aging population. The first three papers in the series are:
On July 27, the Medicaid Subcommittee submitted a comment letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on proposed rules related to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). |
Legislative/Regulatory Updates
 On Aug. 7, CMS’s Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight announced plans to delay publication of preliminary estimates of payments and charges for the risk-corridor program under the ACA. The estimates were originally expected to be published on Aug. 14; however, the postponement is due to a “significant number of discrepancies in the data” found during quality assurance testing.
On July 30, the Internal Revenue Service issued Notice 2015-52 on the excise tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health plans (also known as the “Cadillac tax”) under the ACA. The notice addresses identification of taxpayers liable for the tax, employer aggregation, the cost of applicable coverage, and the age/gender adjustments to the dollar limit. Comments on the information in the notice are due by Oct. 1. This notice supplements Notice 2015-16, issued in February 2015, which solicited initial comments on implementation issues associated with the excise tax.
On July 22, the Medicare trustees released their annual report on the financial condition of the Medicare program. According to the report, the projected long-range financial condition of the program has improved since last year, primarily due to a lower estimate for long-range health care cost growth for the Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) trust fund and other parts of Medicare. The HI trust fund will have sufficient assets to cover its obligations until 2030, the same year as projected last year. At that point, tax revenues would cover 86 percent of program costs.
On July 8, CMS released a proposed rule addressing changes to the physician fee schedule and other Medicare Part B payment policies. This proposed rule seeks comments on the implementation of the new merit-based incentive payment system that was established when the sustainable growth rate formula was repealed as part of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 in April. Comments on the proposed rule are due by Sept. 8. |
In the News/Media Activities
An Aug. 10 Modern Healthcare story about the ACA’s risk-corridor program quoted Cathy Murphy-Barron, Academy vice president of for health issues, who said, “CMS has never collected any of this data before” and that “any time you deal with data, it takes longer than you think.”
A host of media outlets wrote about the Individual and Small Group Markets Committee’s Aug. 5 release of an issue brief that highlighted major drivers of premium rate changes from 2015 to 2016 in the individual and small-group markets. They included:
Senior Health Fellow Cori Uccello was quoted in a McClatchyDC story, “Medicare and Medicaid Face Growing Pains at Age 50.” The story appeared in more than 25 newspapers nationwide, including the Miami Herald and The Sacramento Bee.
Uccello also was quoted by Health Leaders Media in its reporting on the 2015 Medicare Trustees Report projecting that the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will remain solvent until at least 2030, a 13-year improvement over 2009 estimates. Uccello stressed the updated projections should not be interpreted as a sign of the program’s long-term sustainability.
A link to the Academy’s issue brief, Medicare’s Financial Condition: Beyond Actuarial Balance, was posted in BenefitsLink.com’s Health & Welfare Plans newsletter. |
Life and Health Qualifications Seminar Set for November
The 2015 Life and Health Qualifications Seminar will be held Nov. 9-12 in Arlington, Va. (metropolitan Washington), just prior to the Academy’s Annual Meeting in Washington. See why so many of your peers find this seminar the most succinct and effective way to acquire the required basic education and continuing education to assist in being qualified to sign statements of actuarial opinion for NAIC life and health annual statements for those who may not have met the basic education requirements set forth in Section 3.1.1 of the U.S. Qualification Standards. Click here for registration information.
|
Upcoming Health Care Reform Events
Two International Webinars Explore Health Care Cost Drivers
Join us for the next two webinars in our series on health care cost drivers across the globe, which will provide a unique opportunity to learn about the successes and challenges that various countries have experienced as they have worked to identify and address particular cost drivers.
- Exploring Global Health Care Cost Drivers: Australia and Singapore
Webinar: Wednesday, Sept. 2 (for U.S. participants), at 8 p.m. EDT (no fee charged for Academy members)
- Exploring Global Health Care Cost Drivers: Canada and Chile (registration available soon)
Webinar: Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 10 a.m. EST (no fee charged for Academy members)
Sponsor: American Academy of Actuaries and the International Actuarial Association Health Section
For a complete listing of upcoming and recent health care reform events, click here. |
|
|
|
|
|
