STATES WARN AGAINST LIMITED PLANS — As millions of people lose Medicaid, states are spending big by refining their outreach to prevent consumers from being duped into buying so-called junk health insurance plans, Kelly reports. The plans offer limited benefits, fixed payouts or last less than 12 months — but don’t have to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s coverage rules and have historically left people on the hook for medical bills. As states unwind a pandemic-era law that allowed people to stay on Medicaid even if they were no longer eligible, many of them will need new coverage and could end up in a plan without understanding its drawbacks, some state officials told POLITICO. Massachusetts has spent $1.5 million to expand its navigator program — which provides enrollment assistance — during the Medicaid unwinding period, an official told POLITICO. The Washington, D.C., health insurance marketplace has taken a similar approach, shifting its navigator program to focus on Medicaid unwinding; typically at this time, the program’s staff would be working on special enrollment outreach and events, said executive director Mila Kofman. Background: Short-term health plans and limited benefit products like fixed indemnity plans are sometimes marketed as comprehensive health coverage even though they often don’t cover all essential health services, according to a Georgetown Center on Health Insurance Reforms secret shopper study. People who lose Medicaid might be eligible for $0 premium plans on the ACA marketplace, meaning the vast majority of short-term plans and limited benefit products aren’t cheaper options, state officials said. But the Georgetown study found most limited-plan sales reps failed to mention the income-based marketplace subsidies or implied that subsidies were unavailable outside of the annual open-enrollment period. But conservative policy experts say short-term health plans don’t undermine state marketplaces and states shouldn’t try to keep people from them. “I don't think the government should be saying there are some products out there that people can buy that are better than other products,” said Brian Blase, president of the right-leaning Paragon Health Institute and a former Trump policy adviser who worked on the 2018 rule expanding short-term health plans. What’s next: The Biden administration is attempting to crack down on junk plans with a proposed rule that would limit short-term health plans’ duration to three months, scaling back the Trump administration’s 2018 expansion that allowed the coverage to last a full year and be renewed for an additional two years. WELCOME TO MONDAY PULSE. Thought this summer was hot in Washington? Well, it was hot for everyone else in the world, too. Fall, where are you? Send your tips, scoops and feedback to bleonard@politico.com and ccirruzzo@politico.com and follow along @_BenLeonard_ and @ChelseaCirruzzo. TODAY ON OUR PULSE CHECK PODCAST, host Robert King talks with POLITICO health care reporter Kelly Hooper, who takes a closer look at what states are doing to warn consumers about junk health insurance plans.
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