Grassley, Ernst Press CMS to Protect High-Quality, Affordable Health Insurance for 65,000 Iowans – Senator Chuck Grassley
BOONE, IOWA – 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. Read the letter by clicking HERE.
