HealthCare.gov Wants Consumers' Email Addresses, Not Just Yours

The administration of former President Donald Trump drafted the parameters guidelines for the 2022 coverage year, and the administration of President Joe Biden adjusted and updated the Trump administration’s guidelines.

The parameters guidelines for 2023 is the first set that the Biden administration is getting to draft from scratch.

The Contact Information Requirements

CMS officials say in the new draft parameters guidelines that they want see a consumer email address on a coverage application that is “secure, not disposable, and belongs to the consumer”; from an email provider that does not remove email from the inbox after a set period of time; and that can’t be accessed by the agent, broker or web-broker.

Officials want to set similar types of standards for the consumer telephone numbers and addresses on applications, and they want to prohibit applicants from using postal mail boxes supplied by the agents, brokers or web brokers.

In a discussion of the proposed ban on use of disposable email addresses, officials acknowledge that some consumers may use those addresses to avoid getting spam.

“But the use of these email addresses on exchange applications defeats the purpose of entering an email address and occurs at a higher rate on applications assisted by agents, brokers, and web-brokers, many of which are unauthorized,” officials say. “Consumers who wish to avoid receiving emails from the exchange and who are being assisted by an agent, broker, or web-broker may simply omit a contact email address from their exchange application.”

Consumers will have to put their own telephone numbers and mailing addresses on their applications, officials say.

Other Parameters Draft Items

CMS officials note in the draft guidelines that an existing regulation states that the open enrollment period for 2023 coverage, or period when consumers can sign up for individual major medical coverage without showing they have what the government classifies as a good reason to be buying coverage, will run from Nov. 1, 2022, through Jan. 15, 2023.

Officials have proposed for the 2023 coverage year that:

• Producers should tell consumers about the reasons being given in any special enrollment period applications, to keep producers from trying to increase off-season sales by lying about why consumers are eligible to apply for coverage.

• Consumers should have to sign off on the income predictions in coverage applications, to keep producers from lying about consumers’ income to maximize their premium subsidies and minimize their out-of-pocket premium payments.

• HealthCare.gov should hold the user fees it charges health coverage providers at 2.75% of the monthly premiums.

In the past, CMS has put the new annual maximum cost-sharing limit, or limit on how much plans can expect consumers to pay each year for in-network, covered care, in the parameters guideline drafts. In the new parameters draft, CMS says it will post the 2023 annual out-of-pocket max in a separate document in January.

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(Image: ALM)