Marketplace Coverage Renewals: How States’ Approaches Could Affect Consumers’ Finances
Today is the last day for consumers in most states to enroll in a health plan through an Affordable Care Act marketplace for coverage effective January 1. <br /><br />
In a new blog post, Sabrina Corlette, Justin Giovannelli, Ashley Williams, and Kevin Lucia of the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute's Center on Health Insurance Reforms explain that coverage will continue for most of those who already had a marketplace plan and didn’t return to shop by the deadline, thanks to an automatic renewal process. However, while auto-renewal can help people avoid a gap in their coverage, it can also bring an unexpected increase in their premiums or, in some cases, in enrollees’ tax liability. <br />
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In their survey of 17 state-based marketplaces, the authors found that a number of them took steps to reduce consumers’ potential financial risk when renewing coverage.