CAHC Letter to CCIIO re: Request for State Assistance in Providing Enhanced Direct Enrollment

Jeff Grant
Acting Deputy Administrator & Director and Deputy Director
Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight

Re: Request for State Assistance in Providing Enhanced Direct Enrollment

Dear Acting Director Grant,

The Council for Affordable Health Coverage (CAHC) writes in support of increased consumer access to health insurance through the enhanced direct enrollment process in state-based exchanges. CAHC (www.cahc.net) is a broad-based alliance with a primary focus: bringing down the cost of health care for all Americans. Our members include medical providers, patient groups, insurers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, pharmacy benefit managers, and employers.

Increasingly, consumers in states that use the federal exchange are enrolling though an online brokerage platform. These technologies allow consumers an easier and better shopping and enrollment experience than the federal exchange and have expanded both outreach and enrollment in ACA coverage. While we strongly support the expansion of state-based marketplaces, most state-based marketplaces have fallen behind in offering access to this consumer-friendly technological innovation. We urge you to take steps to assist state-based exchanges in offering this technological advancement to their consumers.

Better known as enhanced direct enrollment (EDE), the online brokerage community offers consumers streamlined approaches coupled with direct assistance. . Because consumers prefer these pathways to better assist them in shopping and choosing an ACA health insurance plan, we are seeing significant growth in enrollment through this pathway. For many consumers, it a better alternative than the state-based or federal exchange.