The AP (3/12, Alonso-Zaldivar) reports that applying for benefits under the Affordable Care Act “could be as daunting as doing your taxes.” The AP notes, “Drafts of the paper application and a 60-page description of the online version were quietly posted online by the Health and Human Services Department, seeking feedback from industry and consumer groups. Those materials, along with a recent HHS presentation to insurers, run counter to the vision of simplicity promoted by administration officials.”
The Hill (3/13, Wilson) “Regwatch” blog reports on the specs of a draft for the Obama Administration’s application for the uninsured to get health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s various programs. The first page asks the applicant to “Tell us about yourself,” and the rest of the 15 pages ask “about age, race, income and employer-based health insurance.” Further, “photos show that the draft, dated Jan. 16, 2013, features big type and orange details.”
CQ (3/13, Adams, Subscription Publication) reports, “One big question is whether uninsured people – especially healthy people – will get coverage or whether they’ll just pay a penalty for going without it, which in 2014 will be $95. That’s particularly true for young men without many medical needs, whose premiums will essentially subsidize everyone else. And if healthy people don’t sign up, then rates will be higher than they otherwise would be.”
