Direct enrollment leaves consumers exposed, says CBPP
FierceHealthcare | March 18, 2019
The federal government created direct enrollment (DE) to give insurance companies and brokers the opportunity to sell healthcare plans on their individual websites. However, a new report from the the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities warns that DE can be deceptive and may be opening consumers to privacy issues. While it used to be that consumers would submit a single application in the marketplace to learn what health coverage they are eligible for, in 2019 there are many options for applying to plans and Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, according to the report. But more options are not necessarily good for consumers, as it raises several concerns including the protections of the ACA marketplaces. In 2018, agents and brokers helped with 42% of all HealthCare.gov enrollments, 39% of which were DE.