CMS proposes revising the file deadline for 2018 Affordable Care Act exchange plans

In accordance to a Feb. 17 policy brief, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed revising the deadline for insurers to file qualified health plan applications and rates for 2018 Affordable Care Act marketplace plans from the time period of May 3 to June 21.

Timothy Jost, a emeritus professor at Lexington, Va.-based Washington and Less University School of Law, wrote in a Health Affairs blog post, “The revised timetable provides health plans an additional 7 weeks to decide whether they need to participate on the 2018 ACA exchanges.”
The extended target time is a significant part of proposed rules of CMS to stabilize the individual and small group marketplaces for the year of 2018. The key rules involve shortening the annual open enrollment period and requiring people to give more documentation for special enrollment periods.
The deadline for insurers has also been revised by CMS to file application corrections for quality health plans from the time period of Sept. 11 to Sept. 15, and pushed the deadline of states to send their final recommendations / suggestions for quality health plans to CMS from the time period of Sept. 15 to Sept. 27. According to CMS, it’ll send final notices to insurers by the day of Oct. 12, more than a month after the earlier Sept. 22 deadline.