The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently proposed rule-changing regulations for the Affordable Care Act Marketplace insurance plans that would impact cancer patients by changing special enrollment periods and requirements that are included in open insurance plans.
“ACS CAN [American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network] recognizes the need to make changes to the marketplaces in order to maintain and increase the number of available plans,” Chris Hansen, president of ACS CAN, said in a news release. “However, some of the proposed changes to special enrollment periods (SEP) and essential community provider requirements could cause problems for cancer patients and their families who want and need to enroll in health insurance that is adequate to cover recommended prevention, treatment and follow-up care.”
Cancer patients often seek changes in coverage when their health status changes. ACS CAN recognizes that these patients need to be able to enroll quickly without gaps in their coverage.
“The proposed SEP enrollment changes would require documentation that is often challenging to quickly obtain and will likely overwhelm an already overburdened verification system,” Hansen said. “We are concerned that this change could delay a patient’s treatment and jeopardize a person’s chance of survival.”
For more information, visit www.acscan.org.
