Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) cosponsored Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s (D-N.H.) Marketplace Certainty Act to lower enrollees’ out-of-pocket costs and improve market stability. The legislation would reduce deductibles and co-pays for low-income and middle-income patients by expanding the cost-sharing reduction (CSR) assistance for individuals enrolled in marketplace coverage, making it available to more families. It would also provide permanent funding for those CSR payments.
“The Trump Administration has worked to destabilize the Affordable Care Act since day one, but Nevadans have made it clear they want their representatives in Congress bolstering and improving the ACA, not sabotaging it. Through the permanent funding of cost-sharing subsides, this bill will bring much-needed certainty to Nevada’s health care exchange, particularly in our rural counties, by preventing costs from spiraling out of control or forcing providers to leave markets. I’m bringing the voices of Nevada’s families to Washington by fighting for better access and lower health care costs across the Silver State.”
BACKGROUND:
The Marketplace Certainty Act would reduce deductibles and co-pays for low-income and middle-income patients by expanding the cost-sharing reduction assistance that insurers are required to provide to individuals enrolled in marketplace coverage. In 2019, the existing cost-sharing reduction requirements helped reduce deductibles by thousands of dollars per year for millions of individuals and families. The bill would expand eligibility for this cost-sharing reduction assistance to more patients and would increase the subsidies available for deductible and co-pay relief provided by the cost-sharing reduction assistance.
This bill would also permanently appropriate funding to restore the payments to insurers to reimburse them for the cost of providing the cost-sharing reduction assistance. These reimbursement payments were suspended by the Trump administration in October 2017. The suspension of the payments – part of the Trump administration’s continuing efforts to sabotage the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – has resulted in significant increases in premiums for individuals enrolled in health care plans under the ACA.
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