NBPP 2024 Part 3: Dental Plans, Re-enrollment Hierarchy & QHP Marketing Names

The ACA includes a long list of codified instructions about what's required under the law, but many of the specific details are left up to the agency responsible for implementing it since the legal text itself can't possibly cover every conceivable detail involved. The major provisions of the ACA fall under the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), and within that, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS). Each year, CMS issues a long, wonky document called the Notice of Benefit & Payment Parameters (NBPP) for the Affordable Care Act. This is basically a list of tweaks to some of the specifics of how the ACA is actually implemented. Yesterday CMS released their proposed 2024 NBPP, which includes some important changes which, if included in the final version, will go into effect starting next fall (for calendar year 2024). The full proposed 2024 NBPP is actually 370 pages long; yesterday I posted the press release & Fact Sheet.

ACA Signups
The re-enrollment change is HUGE. Until now, if you don't take any action, CMS will automatically re-enroll you in the exact same policy, but if it's not available they'll re-enroll you in whatever the closest equivalent to that plan is. For the most part this makes sense... #xp
...but a LOT of people enroll in Bronze plans when they're eligible for a high-CSR plan, often w/the same carrier & the same provider network. Going forward, CMS is proposing to auto-renew people in that situation into #SecretPlatinum plans instead, saving them hundreds! #xp
In the future, CMS is even considering auto-enrolling people delinquent on their current premiums into $0-premium plans if they're eligible for one to help them avoid a gap in coverage, which would be huge as well. h/t @[email protected] for finding this. #xp